LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.JI 



CIKISTIAMTY JEOI GOD. 



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BY ALVAN TO BEY, 




PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

28 CORN HILL, BOSTON. 



Kutered according to act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

THE AMERICAN" TRACT SOCIETY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of 
Massachusetts. 



PREFACE 



The object of this little volume is to present some 
of the evidences of Christianity so plainly that any 
person of common intelligence, though without his- 
torical knowledge, can understand the argument 
and appreciate its force. I have aimed to use only 
reasoning which is of real and unquestionable 
strength, and to bring it within the power of the 
common people, the unlearned masses, to judge of 
its character. The book is not for the learned ; but 
I hope there is nothing foolish or weak in it, and 
that those most competent to form a just judgment 
will find the reasoning worthy of consideration and 
acceptance. 

Skeptical doubts sometimes trouble thoughtful 
persons, who have not read much, and have not 
much opportunity to read long and learned treatises, 
in proof that the Christian religion is what it claims 
to be. To such, perhaps, this book, easily read, 

in 



IV PREFACE. 

and I hope easily understood, may afford some help. 
It does not pretend to be a demonstration, such as 
belongs only to mathematical reasoning ; but it 
offers such arguments as, to a thoughtful and candid 
mind, urge personal attention to the gospel. Per- 
haps only by a personal and experimental acquaint- 
ance with Christ and his salvation will the thor- 
oughly searching inquirer be able to find, so as to 
knozo beyond all doubt, that Christianity is from God, 

ALVAN TOBEY. 

Durham, N.H., Nov. 6, 1867. 



CONTENTS. 



O 

CHAPTER I. 
MONUMENTAL PROOFS, 7 

CHAPTER II. 

THE BIBLE, 24 

CHAPTER III. 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE, 42 

CHAPTER IV. 

MAN'S NEED OF A REVELATION, GO 

CHAPTER V. 
THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST, ... 73 

CHAPTER VI. 
CHRIST AS A TEACHER, 93 

CHAPTER VII. 
MIRACLES, 118 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE AUTHORITY CLAIMED AND EXERCISED BY 

CHRIST, 137 

V 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST, . . 157 

CHAPTER X. 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, 176 

CHAPTER XL 

CHRIST THE REVEALER, 194 

CHAPTER XII. 
THE MORAL LAW MUST HAVE COME FROM GOD,. 213 

CHAPTER XIII. 
THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY, 229 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ESSENTIAL UNITY OF THE OLD AND NEW TES- 
TAMENTS, 248 

CHAPTER XV. 

CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW, 2G6 

CHAPTER XVI. 
SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED, 282 

CHAPTER XVII. 
INSPIRATION, 305 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE, . .' 321 

CHAPTER XIX. 
RECAPITULATION, . . . . . \ . . . - . 340 



CHBISTIANITY FKOM GOD. 

CHAPTER I. 

MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 
" Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." — I Thess. 

V. 21. 

f PROPOSE, in the present volume, to 
give a succinct view of the evidences of 
TC Christianity. My aim will be to show 
some of the proofs that the religion which 
we call Christian is true and is of God ; and to 
make the argument so plain that any person 
of common understanding will see its force, 
and, if fair-minded, will be convinced. I am 
not so inexperienced as to think that I can 
persuade all to believe as I do on this great 
subject. But I do hope that all who read 
these pages will be satisfied of my honestly 



8 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

trying to follow the direction of the apostle, 
" Prove all things ; hold fast that which is 
good." And happy will it be, wise it must be, 
for us all to do this. 

As a traveler approaches the city of Boston 
from any direction, he sees, among the multi- 
tude of tall spires and chimneys in view, a 
granite column, which attracts his notice as 
being higher and more substantial than any 
other object. If he be a stranger he may ask, 
pointing to it, "What is that?" The reply 
will be, "It is the Bunker Hill Monument." 
The stranger may ask, " Of what is it a monu- 
ment ? " and he will be told, " Of the battle of 
Bunker Hill, fought on the 17th of June, 1775 ; 
the first battle of the American Revolutionary 
war in which considerable numbers were en- 
gaged." Then might follow some statements, 
more or less at length, about the circumstances 
of the battle. 

But when was this monument erected ? It 
was begun fifty years from the day of the 
battle, by the laying of the corner-stone on 
the 17th of June, 1825. And its completion 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 9 

was celebrated eighteen years after, on the 
17th of June, 1843. 

If, now, the traveler should visit the mon- 
ument he would find that the very ground on 
which the battle was fought — the whole surface 
of the hill, indeed, except a small space around 
the shaft itself — has been removed for the ac- 
commodation of the city which has grown up 
around it. And one who looks at the place 
and compares it with the historical accounts, 
might raise plausible objections to the fact of 
there having been a battle there. The very 
ground is not as it is described to have been 
when the redoubt was thrown up in the night 
and the early morning, and was further made 
defensible with the help of fence-rails and new- 
mown hay. 

But the monument testifies that the battle 
was fought there ; and it will bear the same 
testimony one thousand, two thousand, or three 
thousand years hence, unless an earthquake or 
some other great convulsion shall overthrow it. 

Such enduring monuments to the truth of 
history are found in many parts of the world. 



IO CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

They are sure witnesses to the unlearned 
that those who have written the narratives of 
past events have not been deceivers. 

There is also a monument of another kind, 
which may be equally or more enduring, and is 
more widely known. It is the observance of the 
Fourth of July as our national birthday. This 
commemoration of the act by which we came 
to be a distinct nation could not possibly have 
become an established custom in our country, 
if the act which it celebrates had not been 
done. There is no possibility that the return 
of this day every year should be observed as 
it is, being made a national holiday and jubi- 
lee, celebrated everywhere, oftener with read- 
ing the Declaration of Independence than 
otherwise, if that declaration had not been 
made, and if we had not begun our national 
existence by it. 

Then also the Declaration itself is another 
monument to the truth of history with regard 
to our national beginning. Thousands of years 
from this time that document will remain a 
proof that the story of our separation from 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. II 

Great Britain and of our taking our place 
among the nations of the earth is true. 

Are there alike enduring monuments wit- 
nessing to the facts of the Christian religion, 
so there can be no mistake in regarding them 
as facts ? 

There are such monuments. It is sometimes 
asked, " How do we know that Jesus Christ 
ever existed, and that his whole history, as 
given to us, is not a fiction ? " I reply, we 
know by the monuments which confirm the 
history. 

i. Our method of marking the succession 
of years is a monument that proves the ex- 
istence of Jesus Christ as the founder of the 
Christian religion. In all our dates this year 
we write 1867. It is the same whether we 
write a letter, a business account, a legal doc- 
ument, or a state paper. And so it is all over 
the world. Wherever Christianity exists, this 
is the way in which men mark the year. They 
call it in Latin Anno Domini ; in English, the 
year of our Lord, the year of Christ, the year 
of the Christian era. How was this method 



12 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

of naming the year introduced ? How came 
it to be established ? It is understood to be 
in commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, 
the founder of the Christian religion. We find 
the Christian religion existing anji prevailing 
in a large part of the world, and that the most 
intelligent, the most enterprising, the most 
wealthy, the most moral, the most powerful 
part of the world. And as we trace back the 
course of years we find this mode of marking 
time pointing always to the birth of Christ. 
Could this have been if Christ had not lived 
and been the founder of Christianity ? Surely 
we can not suppose it possible. Here then 
is one monument to the facts of the Christian 
religion. And with this agrees all the history 
of the Christian world. 

2. A second monument to the truth of the 
Christian history, and so of Christianity, is the 
Christian Church in the world. Here it is. 
It exists in various parts of the earth and 
in various forms. How came it to be ? The 
history of the world and the history of the 
church trace back its existence to the life of 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 1 3 

Christ on earth, to his miracles, his teach- 
ings, his death and resurrection, and the 
ministry of his apostles. Any amount of 
learning may be, has been, employed in trac- 
ing out this history and the progress of the 
church, with its variations and different parts, 
from the beginning till now. Disputes may be 
found and doubts raised as to some particular 
events. But the existence of the Christian 
religion as received by a portion of mankind 
from the time of Christ, acknowledging the 
Bible as their book of instruction and author- 
ity, themselves professing to believe the Bible 
and to follow Christ, — this living present fact 
remains palpable to all men. It can not be 
denied by any. It stands out before the world 
everywhere. The Christian religion has spread 
in some degree over all the world. It is not 
now, as it once was, a little thing found only in 
one place. But in all civilized nations, cer- 
tainly, are those who are called after the 
name of Christ, and profess to receive him as 
their Saviour. 

Does this prove the truth of Christianity ? 



14 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

you may ask. It proves that Christ was not a 
fabulous being, but a real character, who ex- 
erts a mighty influence in the world. To 
know what sort of character he was, what he 
claimed to be, and whether he was what he 
claimed to be, we must go to the history of his 
life and teachings and death, and the progress 
of his influence through the ministry and 
teachings of his followers. The existence of 
the Christian religion in the world is a monu- 
ment to the reality of Christ's life and influ- 
ence in the world. 

3. The two ordinances of the Christian 
Church, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 
are another like monument. I put the two 
together because they are so much alike in 
their relation to the Christian religion. They 
are found wherever the church of Christ exists. 
They are said to be ordinances of his appoint- 
ment. Such is the account of them in the 
New Testament. Is it possible that they could 
have come into observance in any other way ? 
Has there been any time when they could have 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 1 5 

been brought in, if they had not been ap- 
pointed by the Master himself ? 

There are two important things in relation to 
them, — their existence, and their appointment 
by the Lord himself. Can it be supposed that 
baptism arose as an ordinance in the church of 
Christ at any time since he lived ? Would 
there not then be some account of it, and some 
reason given for it ? If he did not direct his 
disciples to go and preach the gospel, baptizing 
those who believed, how came this ordinance 
to exist, and the statement also that he di- 
rected it? Could anybody at any time, be- 
tween the day when Christ was on earth and 
this day, have contrived this introductory ordi- 
nance of the church and brought it into use ? 

And so of the Lord's Supper. We have it 
as appointed by Christ himself in remembrance 
of his death. As such it comes to us. It has 
this meaning or design, — to keep in remem- 
brance his death. " This is my body which is 
given for you ; this do in remembrance of me." 
To the same purpose is the statement of 
Paul, " For as often as ye eat this bread and 



1 6 CHRISTIANITY *FROM GOD. 

drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death 
till he come." 

Now, supposing the ordinance was not in- 
stituted at the time given, is it possible that 
Christians could afterward have been persua- 
ded to adopt it as then having been instituted ? 
Surely, if it had been proposed in later times as 
a new thing, they would have said, " We never 
heard of this before. If Christ died for us and 
gave us this to be observed in remembrance of 
his death, why have we not known it till now ? " 
Therefore it never could have been brought 
into use at a later time. It must have existed 
from the beginning, as a memorial of Christ's 
death. And if the ordinance of the Lord's 
Supper is a memorial of Christ's death, the 
gospel history of his death is true. It is testi- 
fied by this enduring monument. 

4. The Christian Sabbath is another such 
monument. We find existing among us the 
division of time into weeks of seven days each, 
and the observance of the first day of the 
week as the Sabbath, the day of special reli- 
gious worship. In the thoroughly Christian 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 1 7 

communities we find it observed as a day of 
rest from common labor, of abstinence from 
the common business and pleasures of the 
world, and employed in worship and other re- 
ligious services. 

Whence came this observance ? How have 
men been led to divide the days by sevens 
rather than by sixes or eights or tens ? Where 
did they get this division of days into weeks of 
seven each ? If we take the Bible history, and 
go back to the creation of the world, we find 
it ; and we do not find it anywhere else. 

Even then we do not find the Sabbath as the 
first day of the week, but the seventh. Yet 
as the first day we have it. And how ? When 
was it introduced ? By what means and why 
was the change made from the seventh day to 
the first day ? 

If the gospel history be true, and Christ rose 
from the dead on the first day of the week, it is 
natural that the first day should be observed 
by his disciples as their special day of worship, 
and so should for all Christians take the place 
of the seventh day. And how otherwise could 



1 8 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

it have been introduced among men as a 
special day of worship ? 

So the Sabbath is a monument witnessing 
to the truth of the gospel history ; witnessing 
that Christ, after he was crucified, rose from 
the dead, and that the Christian religion is 
true, and is of God. 

5. Another monument is the Bible. Here 
we have a large book, not new, certainly, but 
long known, and held in the highest estimation 
as superior to any other book in worth and 
importance. It is often said to be worth more 
than all other books. Where did it come 
from ? How has it come to have such a place 
in the judgment of many people both learned 
and unlearned ? It is reputed to have a special 
authority and excellence as God's book, pro- 
duced by his inspiration. Among Christians 
generally it is regarded as the great source of 
religious instruction, the treasury of divine 
truth from which all men may draw that 
knowledge of God, and the way to secure his 
favor, which they need. It so stands alone and 
above all other books as to be called the Word 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 19 

of God, and the Bible, or the book, as if there 
were no other book. It has often been said 
that men have a superstitious reverence for it. 
And perhaps they have. It is very easy for 
many people to be superstitious. But many, 
certainly, have a great reverence for the Bible, 
who do not generally show themselves super- 
stitious. 

Now, I ask, How is it that the Bible has such 
a great place in the world, and such great 
influence among men ? How has it come to 
pass that many of the best men, and not a 
few of the ablest men, think so highly of it ? 
If it is a book in which the world is taught 
religious truth by God himself, all this respect 
and veneration are reasonable. If it is not 
such a book, but only one having in it many 
good and true things produced by men in 
times past, without any special help of God, 
as other books are made, all those who think 
so very highly of it are mistaken. 

I remember that a few years ago a very 
learned and able man, who had not any pecu- 
liar reverence for the Bible, though he pro- 



20 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

fessed to be a preacher of the truth, said that 
the preachers who hold up the Bible as the infal- 
lible word of God do not dare to tell the peo- 
ple that it was made up of a great many differ- 
ent parts, written by many different persons in 
widely different periods of time. To tell them 
these facts he thought would destroy that rev- 
erence for the Bible as God's book of eternal 
truth which the ministers of the Christian re- 
ligion commonly teach. But Theodore Parker, 
with all his learning and ability, must have 
been ignorant of what is familiar to most of the 
teachers in our Sabbath schools and to many 
of the scholars, — of what indeed is familiar to 
all the most intelligent common Christians. 
For those very facts which, he said, ministers 
would be afraid to have generally known, are 
matters of common instruction by them, and 
of common knowledge among intelligent Chris- 
tian people. 

The common fact is, and is well known to 
be, that the Bible is the subject of study by 
Christian ministers themselves, — is acknowl- 
edged by them as of the highest authority ; 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 21 

and it is their general practice to urge the 
people, also, to make it the subject of their 
study, and to learn all they can about it. They 
present it everywhere as worthy to be put to 
the test of constant inquiry and examination. 
And generally those who bring it to this test 
in the most thorough manner are the most 
fully convinced of its superior worth and au- 
thority. Especially is it true that the best 
men among us, who give careful and constant 
attention to the Bible, are the most fully satis- 
fied that God speaks to us in it the words of 
his eternal truth and love, for our salvation 
from sin and death. 

Therefore do I say that the Bible, as it 
exists among us, the subject of constant study, 
the source of constant instruction, received 
generally by those most thoroughly acquainted 
with it and so most competent to judge, as 
giving us a revelation from God, is a monu- 
ment to the truth of the Christian religion. 
And the more we look upon it, and see that 
light and love have gone out from it for 
ages, blessing the world with peace and good 



22 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

will in proportion as men have received and 
obeyed its teachings, the more does it appear 
an enduring monument witnessing to the truth 
and goodness of the Christian religion. 

These five enduring memorials, testifying 
to the material facts in the Christian religion, 
are worthy of serious consideration by all who 
wish to know the truth on the momentous 
question, whether God has spoken to us in the 
Bible, and by his Son, Jesus Christ. The first, 
our manner of marking the years as they pass, 
is a witness to the real existence of Christ. 
The second, the existence of the Christian re- 
ligion in the world, is a monument of his 
mighty influence. The third, the ordinances 
of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, — regard- 
ing the two as one monument, — testify of his 
teachings and his death. The fourth, the Sab- 
bath, is a monument of his resurrection. And 
the fifth, the Bible, sets before the world the 
means of his power, the store-house of influ- 
ences going forth to bless men with salvation. 

And here let me ask, in conclusion, are not 
these proofs that Christianity is a matter of 



MONUMENTAL PROOFS. 23 

reality and importance enough to demand that 
we give our attention to it in earnest, and 
secure for ourselves the blessings which it 
brings ? Can any one act reasonably who 
neglects it ? 

If Christ lived and taught, and died and rose 
from the dead, and sent forth his gospel that 
we might believe it and be saved by it, how 
can we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
tion ? 

The words of warning which Paul uttered in 
addressing the Jews at Antioch are applicable 
to us : " Be it known unto you, therefore, 
men and brethren, that through this man is 
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; 
and by him all that believe are justified from 
all things, from which ye could not be justified 
by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest 
that come upon you which is spoken of by the 
prophets : Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, 
and perish ; I work a work in your days, a 
work which ye shall in no wise believe, though 
a man declare it unto you." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE BIBLE. 
" But the word of our God shall stand for ever." — Is. xl. 8. 

'HE passage in which we find this declara- 
tion is quoted in the New Testament by 
the apostle Peter in his first Epistle. It 
is not given by the apostle fully and ex- 
actly, but generally &nd in substance. Isaiah 
says, " All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness 
thereof is as the flower of the field : the grass 
withereth, the flower fadeth ; because the Spirit 
of the Lord bloweth upon it : surely the peo- 
ple is grass. The grass withereth, the flower 
fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand 
for ever." Peter says, " For all flesh is as grass, 
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. . 
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof fall- 
eth away : but the word of the Lord endureth 



THE BIBLE. 25 

for ever." He adds, "And this is the word 
which by the gospel is preached unto you." 

We often call the Bible the word of God, 
because we believe it contains God's revelation to 
men of his will, of the principles of his govern- 
ment, and of the way in which he will bless and 
save them for ever. And it is neither unnatu- 
ral nor unreasonable to take the expression of 
the prophet, " The word of our God," as mean- 
ing the Bible. If it did not mean, as used by 
him, exactly what we mean by the word, yet 
certainly we suppose its meaning is contained 
in the Bible, because we suppose God speaks 
to us in it ; and that which he speaks is his 
word. 

In the preceding chapter on the monumen- 
tal proofs of Christianity, the Bible was men- 
tioned as one of them. I propose now to look 
at it as being of itself a very strong proof of 
the truth of the Christian religion. 

I. The reputation of the Bible as giving 
men a revelation is strong evidence for the 
Christian religion. I refer now especially to 
the reputation it has, among intelligent people 



26 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

and in all the most enlightened countries of the 
world, of containing a revelation from God for 
the benefit of men. 

As you go into a library and take up one 
book after another, if you ask the character of 
each, you receive the answer of those who are 
well informed, generally, according to the facts. 
About some books there is entire agreement. 
About some there is great diversity of opinion. 
About a few there is little known as to their 
authorship and character. But when you find 
a book which is well known, which has been 
much read and studied, of which the language 
and facts and doctrines are familiar to many 
people, you will certainly have no hesitation in 
taking the opinion of those best acquainted 
with it as likely to be correct. Those who have 
given it little attention can not judge so well 
of it as those who have given it much. But if 
there is a general agreement among those who 
are acquainted with the book as to its character, 
there is certainly strong reason to believe that 
their opinion is right. If many have had op- 
portunity of reading the book, so as to make 



THE BIBLE. 2/ 

themselves well informed concerning its con- 
tents and character, and if most of those who 
have learned what they could, substantially 
agree in relation to it, we may reasonably con- 
clude that they have formed a right judgment. 
And we can not reasonably conclude anything 
else. 

Now this is just the fact with regard to the 
Bible. It is well known. It is a common book. 
Many people have read it and studied it, so as 
to have a good knowledge of its language, facts, 
and teachings. And the great majority of those 
who have given it so much attention as to know 
what there is in it, believe that it is a revela- 
tion from God. It is commonly called the 
word of God, because it is generally believed 
by those who know much about it that he 
speaks to us in it. This is its general reputation 
among the most intelligent and sober-minded 
people who are acquainted with it, among those 
who are the most competent, by their knowl- 
edge and by their attention to the matter, to 
form a correct judgment. 

And this reputation of the Bible is a stronger 



28 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

proof in its favor, because it is called in ques- 
tion. There are those, and there have always 
been those, who doubted or denied that the 
Bible gives us a revelation from God. In 
some instances, persons have made themselves 
well acquainted with it, and yet have not been 
convinced that its reputation and title as the 
word of God are well founded. But generally, 
among those who have examined it, there is an 
assent to its title and its reputation ; and 
among those who have examined it the most 
carefully and thoroughly there is a warm ap- 
proval of its claims. 

This proof is strong enough, surely, to de- 
mand that every one who would be reasonable 
and would know the truth should examine the 
book for himself. Especially is this the fact 
when we consider that the people who take it 
for the word of God are not, as a class, the 
weak, the uninformed, nor the evil-minded. In 
a Protestant Christian land, where the book is 
the most common and best known, they are a 
very large part of the people ; and they include 
most of those who may be called well-disposed, 



THE BIBLE 2(J 

well-informed, sober-minded and sensible. If 
you take out those who have neglected to give 
it any considerable attention, and ask the 
opinion of only those who have made them- 
selves acquainted with its contents, its char- 
acter and its claims, you will find that nearly 
all of them acknowledge it as the word of God. 
This reputation of the Bible, I repeat, is such 
a proof in favor of its importance and its divine 
authority as calls upon every one who would 
know the truth to examine the book for him- 
self. 

2. And here is a second proof in its favor : 
the book offers itself for examination. It 
does not seek concealment, but asks to be thor- 
oughly searched out. It courts inquiry, honest, 
earnest, fair-minded. Come to the Bible and 
see what there is in it. Do not look for what is 
not, but for what is, — the great plain facts and 
truths, or teachings. Do not expend all your 
examination on the dark or doubtful things, 
those which are hard to be understood ; but 
give your attention to its eternal law of truth 
and right, to God's presence in all its history, 



30 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

to his promises and providences favoring that 
which is good and warning against that which 
is evil, to his revelations by prophets and apos- 
tles, and more than all others by Jesus Christ, 
his Son. Look into the things which are 
really and plainly in this one book, and not in 
other books, except as drawn from this. Look 
into them carefully. Examine them as fully as 
you can. The book offers itself to you for ex- 
amination, not for a blind reception. 

Imposture always seeks concealment. It 
clothes itself with mystery. It strives to make 
the impression of something above the knowl- 
edge of ordinary mortals, and above their power 
of attaining knowledge. It claims to be among 
the wonders of the world. Sometimes it lifts 
the veil of mystery a little, and so pretends to 
imitate the discoveries of true science. But 
never does it invite a thorough examination 
like the Bible. Search the Scriptures. No 
book of imposture has a standing injunction 
like this. But the Bible has stood before the 
world with this command of its chief character, 
its hero, ever since he was on earth. 



THE BIBLE. 3 I 

There are two sorts of inquiry to which the 
Bible is exposed, and to which it calls those 
who seek to know its rightful claims. They 
are, — inquiry into its teachings and character, 
and inquiry into its history and influence. The 
first, which is internal, is an examination of 
what the Bible contains. The other, which is 
external, is an examination of all that we can 
learn about it outside of the book itself. 

An examination of what is in the book is the 
most within the reach of all, the most satis- 
factory to a candid inquirer, and the most de- 
cisive. It is to this chiefly that the minds of 
men should be directed. Here the field is 
open to all who can read and think and judge 
for themselves. 

You want to know more of the truth con- 
cerning God than you can learn from the ma- 
terial world, and more than you find by looking 
within yourself, or by any use of your own 
reason without help. Look into the Bible and 
see if you do not find something there to good 
purpose. See if the law which is there de- 
clared does not meet your own heart and con- 



32 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

science as having the authority of truth and of 
God, so that you may reasonably say, This is 
the law of God. See if the presence and regu- 
lating control of God, as the Almighty Creator 
and ever-present Supreme Ruler, is not the 
most reasonable teaching about God, and the 
most satisfactory to the mind, and therefore to 
be received as truth. See if you do not find 
God speaking to us in Christ, coming to men, 
showing sympathy with our trials, compassion 
for our sorrows, love to our souls, and provid- 
ing salvation from sin and death, as you do not 
find in all the world besides. The truth always, 
in all the world, is its own best testimony. As 
an honest man often carries his best recom- 
mendation in his own face and manners, so 
that none who know him can .doubt his char- 
acter, and scarcely can one who sees him even 
for a little time, — so the Bible carries, in the 
manner and character of its teachings, the best 
and reasonably sufficient proof that God in it 
gives us a revelation of his truth and love, and 
speaks to us the words of life eternal. 

I do not forget that there are some things in 



THE BIBLE. 33 

it which are hard to be understood, and some 
things which no man would have put into a 
divine revelation. So there are some things 
in the world which are hard to be understood, 
and some which no man would have had in it 
of his own choice. This agrees with the fact 
that man did not make the world. Does it in 
not the same way indicate that man did not 
make the Bible ? It would not have been as it 
is, if any man, or any company of men, had 
made it. Human wisdom would have said, 
Leave out the sin of Abraham, and the sin of 
David, and the book of Solomon's Song. But 
these things were not left out. We do not 
know why they are in ; and there are many 
things in the world, we do not know why. Is 
this any proof that God did net make the 
world ? It is proof that we do not understand 
and can not explain all which he does. 

I spoke of external inquiry about the Bible, 
to which it is exposed, and which it invites. We 
may inquire as far as we can about the way in 
which it was written, and also its history, and 
its position in the world of books. Those who 



34 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

are able to make investigation into these mat- 
ters will find them subjects of great interest. 
But they require more historical knowledge 
than is possessed by most of those for whom 
especially I write, in order to be well under- 
stood and appreciated. I shall therefore not 
now dwell on the history of the Bible. It is 
open to inquiry and consideration just like any 
other book. But there is one subject, outside 
of the Bible itself, which I must consider as 
furnishing proof of its divine origin and au- 
thority. 

3. The INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE is proof of 

its being from God, and that God is with it in 
the world. Of course I can here only refer to a 
very few things to show its influence. It must 
have the greatest influence where it is the most 
generally known and read and reverenced, 
where it is in the hands of all the people, and 
all, or nearly all, seek to know what are its 
teachings. Where it is entirely unknown, the 
people can not be influenced by it. Where it 
is known but little, they can be only a little 
under its influence. 



THE EIBLE. 35 

There are many portions of the world where 
the Bible is not known. Are the people in 
those countries as true, as intelligent, as moral, 
as kind, as elevated in their social habits and 
their intellectual life, as where the Bible is 
known? Certainly not. The nations and 
peoples among whom this book is not known 
are those among whom selfishness, deceit, sen- 
suality, cruelty, oppression, violence, and all 
vices and iniquities, are the most prevalent and 
the least restrained. This is true not only 
among the savage and barbarous tribes of men, 
but among the civilized. It is true of the Asi- 
atics as well as the Africans, — of the Hindoos 
and Persians as well as the Kafirs and Be- 
chuanas. And it is a most noticeable fact, 
worthy of the gravest consideration, that when 
any people or nation or tribe come to receive 
the Bible and live under its influence, they be- 
come changed for the better. There are ex- 
amples of this change known to every well- 
informed person, — examples which should call 
forth our admiration for the manifest and most 
blessed consequences which have followed the 



36 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

introduction of the Bible and its religion. One 
such example was presented so clearly at the 
meeting of the American Board of Foreign 
Missions in October, 1864, in one of the reports 
accepted, that I will quote the statement which 
was given. 

" Forty-five years ago we sent forth the first 
missionaries to the Sandwich Islands. The 
natives of those islands were at that time not 
only heathen but savages. They had no his- 
tory and almost no traditions. They had no 
letters, and no foreigner had ever reduced their 
language to writing, or examined into its forms 
and structure. Their only dwellings were huts 
of grass. Their mechanical skill was only suf- 
ficient to construct canoes, to fabricate fish- 
hooks and weapons of war, to manufacture 
mats from grass, and a rude paper-like cloth 
from the bark of certain trees, and to decorate 
their persons with the plumage of birds. Their 
religion was a degrading heathenism, and their 
hideous idols were worshiped with human sac- 
rifices. The family institution can hardly be 
said to have existed among them ; for in their 



THE BIBLE. 37 

practice of polygamy not only might the hus- 
band have many wives, but the wife might 
have many husbands ; and children were killed 
without scruple at the convenience, or in the 
anger or weariness, of parents. They had no 
conscience that made them ashamed of false- 
hood, or fraud, or of murder ; and in licentious- 
ness, not Paphos, nor Corinth, nor Sodom, 
could surpass their universal and brutish deg- 
radation. From forty years of occasional in- 
tercourse with the ships of civilized and com- 
mercial nations, they had acquired nothing but 
new vices, new diseases, new implements of 
mutual destruction, and the art of distilling a 
fiery drink for the purpose of intoxication. 

" The result of our mission, at the end of 
forty years from the arrival of our first mis- 
sionaries, was, that the inhabitants of the Ha- 
waiian Islands had become substantially a 
Christian nation, recognized as such by the 
leading powers of Christendom. 

" Our missionaries found the Hawaiians al- 
most as naked as Adam and Eve in paradise, 
and quite as far from being ashamed. The peo- 



38 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

pie whom they found in that condition are now 
decently clothed. Thousands of families are 
dwelling in humble but comfortable homes. 
Native workmen are busy in the various me- 
chanical trades ; and, to a wide extent, habits 
of industry and thrift have superseded the in- 
dolence and wastefulness of savage life. The 
Christian Sabbath, that characteristic institu- 
tion, which distinguishes British Christians on 
the continent of Europe, and which we have 
received as part of our inheritance, is observed 
by the Hawaiian people as generally and as 
carefully as it is observed in Scotland or in New 
England. On that day " the sound of the church- 
going bell " floats over the valleys and is echoed 
from the mountains ; and of the entire popula- 
tion, as large a portion as in any other Chris- 
tian country answers the call to public worship. 
In cheerful throngs, decently appareled, they 
resort to Christian temples, humble but com- 
fortable, and in many instances substantial, 
built by native hands and paid for mostly by na- 
tive contributions. They worship the God of 
the Bible in their own melodious language, not 



THE BIBLE. 39 

indeed with ceremonial pomp, but according 
to the simple ritual of Protestantism and of 
primitive Christianity ; with prayers offered in 
the name of Christ ; i with psalms and hymns 
and spiritual songs making melody with their 
hearts unto God ; ' with the reverent hearing of 
God's word, and with the administration of bap- 
tism and the Lord's supper/ " 

Here is an example of the influence produced 
by the Bible and its religion, carried by Chris- 
tians to a far distant people who were in the 
extremes t need of reform and elevation. It is 
an example of the disposition to do good in- 
spired by the Bible in the Christians who went, 
and of its power to bless and save those to 
whom they went. And does it not show to 
every reasonable mind that God speaks to us in 
the Bible, and goes with Christian men and wo- 
men who carry it to the heathen, and strive in 
Christian love and faithfulness to save them 
from sin and death ? Does it not prove that 
the gospel is in our day, as it was declared by 
the great apostle to be, the wisdom of God 
and the power of God unto salvation ? 



40 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOP. 

One thought more I will add on this topic. 
Suppose one, who is known to have lived in the 
selfish pursuit of pleasure or of gain, careless 
of God, and careless of the rights and wants of 
his fellow-men, careless of his own duties and 
wants as a spiritual and immortal being, igno- 
rant of the Bible or utterly negligent of it, 
comes to be convinced of its truth and worth, 
acquaints himself with it, adopts it as the guide 
of his life, and, seeking God's help, follows its 
directions faithfully and perseveringly, so that 
the proper influence of the Bible and its reli- 
gion is wrought into his life : will not that per- 
son be transformed in character and manner of 
life so truly and plainly that all men will take 
knowledge of him, not only as a Christian by 
name and profession, but as a good man, a child 
of God, showing that God is with him, and as 
a worthy example of what men should be ? 
And is not this the proper influence of the 
Christian religion according to the Bible ? 

No one surely can doubt it. Let the worst 
man you know come to the Bible, receive it as 
true and from God, seek its instruction and 



THE BIBLE. 4 1 

follow it, looking to God for help, so as to live 
by it, and he will be no longer a bad man, but 
an example of goodness. He will be a man of 
truth, uprightness and love, doing good to all, 
and acknowledged by all to be a most worthy 
character, as well as a true Christian. 

This topic, the influence of the Bible, is of 
so great importance as to deserve a more ex- 
tended consideration in another chapter. But 
from the view of it now presented, I do not 
hesitate to say that the influence of the Bible 
proves it to be from God. Its good effects 
prove its claims to be the word of God. And 
we ought to receive it. We can not reasonably 
neglect it. It is truth for us, and its truth 
alone can meet the wants of our immortal na- 
ture. 

God speaks to us in the Bible. He calls us 
sinners to repent and turn to him, offering us 
his mercy and his help freely, through Jesus 
Christ his Son. And if we do not give heed to 
his call, we shut our eyes to the light, choose 
the way of evil, and prove that we love darkness 
rather than light. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 
" Ye shall know them by their fruits." — Matt. vii. 16. 

'HE test which our Saviour gave for dis- 
tinguishing between true and false teach- 
ers is equally good when applied to true 
and false teachings or doctrines, and be- 
liefs. It is a test of character, and the best we 
have, whether it be the character of a teacher, 
of a doctrine, or of a man. It assumes this 
principle : that which is good in its effects 
must be true. It is a sound principle and safe, 
and can not be reasonably denied. 

We may properly apply this as a test of the 
Christian religion, and of the Bible, which 
teaches the Christian religion. If these objects 
of our belief, our reverence, and our love, bear 
the test, they ought to be received ; if not, 
they ought to be rejected. For, "ye shall 
42 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 43 

know them by their fruits. Do men gather 
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? ■ Even so 
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; but 
a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A 
good tree can not bring forth evil fruit, neither 
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." 
These words would be true, if they were not 
found in the Bible, and if they were not the 
words of Jesus Christ. They are not the less 
true now. 

Man is an intellectual being, a moral being, 
and a social being. And whatever is good for 
him in these three great departments of his na- 
ture ought to be received as true to his nature. 

1. What, then, is the influence of the Bible 
on the intellectual character of man ? 

The intellect of man is one of the principal 
things in which he is distinguished from the 
brutes that perish. An imperishable mind or 
spirit, that thinks and reasons, loves and 
hates, rejoices and grieves, as mere animals 
do not, and never can, by any culture or by 
anything of mind which they possess, raises 
man in the scale of existence incomparably 



44 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

above them, and makes him a different order 
of being. 

Among the things which belong to this in- 
tellectual nature is the capacity fcr improve- 
ment. There is an advancement in mind not 
only of individuals, but of families, of com- 
munities, of nations. And this advancement 
goes on from one generation to another. Thus 
nations make progress in the scale of intel- 
lectual life. All men are not on the same 
level in respect to mind ; all nations are not 
on the same level ; and all generations are not. 

And it is a general fact beyond reasonable 
question, that Christian nations stand higher 
intellectually than other nations. Whatever 
the cause may be, the fact is certain. Nearly 
or quite ail the discoveries and improvements 
in science, nearly or quite all the institutions 
of sound learning, and unquestionably all the 
efforts for general education within a period of 
nearly two thousand years, have been in Chris- 
tian nations, where the Bible is received as giv- 
ing men a revelation from God, where Jesus 
Christ is acknowledged as the Son of God and 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 4$ 

the Saviour of sinners, and where there is no 
religion but Christianity. We sometimes find 
skeptical men discoverers in science or emi- 
nent in scientific pursuits ; but they are always 
in Christian lands. There are certainly some 
literary institutions in countries which are not 
Christian ; but they are not seminaries of true 
and sound learning, such as elevate and en- 
noble the mind with the love and pursuit of 
truth, and guard it against error and delusion. 
And there are no plans and efforts for the edu- 
cation of all the people in any countries which 
are not Christian, or, indeed, in any countries 
where Protestant Christianity does not prevail, 
and where the Bible, as the word of God, is not 
freely given to all the people. The culture 
and elevation of the minds of all men is emi- 
nently a Christian work. And it strongly im- 
plies that the Christianity which suggests and 
urges it is from that God who cares for all 
men. The benevolent mind of God is so ani- 
mated by infinite love that he would have the 
minds of all men ennobled and enlarged, as 
they may be, with knowledge and skill and 



46 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

healthy activity. And the Christian religion, 
in seeking, as it does, by its light and love, to 
elevate the intellectual character of all men, 
agrees with the mind and heart of God, and so 
gives us strong reason to believe that it comes 
from him. Certainly there is no other religion 
in the world which does this good. And it is 
not done and can not be done without religion. 
It is not done, and can not be done, without 
the Christian religion. 

It might be shown that the very subjects on 
which Christianity leads men to think and 
reason must elevate and ennoble the mind. 
It sets before all, as of the greatest interest 
and importance, subjects above the earth and 
earthly things. And it awakens on those sub- 
jects an immense amount of intellectual activity 
and power. Men to whom the Christian re- 
ligion comes for truth, must think on God and 
Christ and heaven and hell. The eternal laws 
of righteousness, the government of the holy 
and almighty God, Jesus Christ showing forth 
the truth and love of God for the salvation of 
men, and an immortality of blessedness or woe 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 4/ 

before all men, — these are subjects of infinite 
moment to those who believe the Bible. And 
they have a wonderfully quickening power for 
the mind, starting all manner of urgent 
thoughts, questions, and arguments. There is 
not likely to be stagnation of intellect where 
these and like matters occupy it. But there is 
likely to be force and sharpness and reaching 
out of mind toward infinite and eternal things. 
But I will not dwell further on this topic. 

2. The influence of the Bible on the moral 
character of men. The moral character of 
men is of greater importance than their intel- 
lectual character. It is more necessary to be 
good than to be great ; not indeed for the pur- 
poses of selfishness, but for the nobler purpose 
of real worth. The more able a man is, doubt- 
less the better he can look out for his own in- 
terests in the world. But the more upright, 
pure-minded, and kind a man is, the better it is 
for all around him. Accordingly the moral 
law, the law of eternal truth and righteousness, 
is the highest law under which we live. And 
under the government of Him who rules in 



48 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

righteousness and goodness, our Father in 
heaven, all things must be subordinate to the 
moral law. 

What, then, is the influence of the Bible on 
the moral character of men, is a greater and 
more decisive question than what is its influ- 
ence on their intellectual character. And the 
more important question may be more quickly 
and decisively answered. The answer is known 
and read of all men. There is a difference be- 
tween the moral ideas and habits prevailing in 
countries where the Bible is received as teach- 
ing God's truth, and those in countries where 
it is not so received. The very geographies 
taught in our schools tell us that there is a 
wide difference, and that, where the Bible is 
received, the people stand on a platform of 
moral principles and life far above those among 
whom it is not received. The thoughts, judg- 
ments, and reasonings of men who have not 
the Bible, in relation to morals, are low and un- 
worthy, foul and base ; while those of people 
who have the Bible are such as it teaches : for 
it is the standard. 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 49 

This one fact, that the Bible gives to the civ- 
ilized world to-day its standard of morals, is of 
the highest moment in the argument. The 
philosophers of antiquity, Egyptian, Greek, or 
Roman, and the more recent philosophers 
who do not receive the Bible, French, German, 
English, or American, have nothing to offer as 
rules or instructions for the moral guidance of 
men which surpasses the Bible, and nothing 
which equal the Bible, except such as are 
drawn from it. The best morals the world has 
ever known are those of the Ten Command- 
ments and the Sermon on the Mount. And it 
is among not the least important of the wise 
sayings of that eminent statesman, Daniel 
Webster, that Christianity must be from God, 
and that the Sermon on the Mount is alone 
sufficient proof of that fact. 

The manner in which right moral princi- 
ples are enforced by the Bible increases the 
strength of this argument. The summoning 
of all men before God, the holy, almighty, eter- 
nal Spirit, who looks on the heart and discerns 
its thoughts and desires, that so their character 
4 



50 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

may be determined, is a lesson in morals which 
man never learned of his own heart and mind, 
nor of his fellow-men. And such a lesson also 
is in the blessings pronounced on the poor in 
spirit, on the meek, on those who hunger and 
thirst after righteousness, on the pure in heart, 
and on those who are persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake. And the like lessons are contained 
in the commands to love our enemies, to be 
perfect as our Father in heaven, and to lay- 
up treasure, not on earth, but in heaven. 

It is sometimes said that there are other 
teachings in the Bible, contrary to these les- 
sons. But those who have the most carefully 
studied and compared its different parts have 
not found the contradiction. They have found 
a wonderful agreement of the different parts, 
the earlier and the later, with only this princi- 
ple for the reconcilement of seeming discrep- 
ancies, that as the eyes become accustomed to 
the light they see more clearly, so it is with 
the eyes of the mind. Men see the truth 
more clearly and exactly by a larger acquaint- 
ance with it. And according to the same 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 5 1 

order, God has made his revelation to men, at 
first setting forth his truth really and strongly, 
but not in the fullness of all which he designed 
to reveal, and afterward declaring more exactly 
and variously and completely the revelation of 
his truth and love. After Christ came and the 
Holy Spirit was given, the light of God's truth 
shone more largely and completely, and on 
many subjects more clearly, than ever before. 

Let a man adopt the Bible as the standard 
of his life, looking to God, as it teaches him to 
look, for help to understand and obey it, and 
who doubts that he will be a model man as to 
his moral character? So let a community 
practically adopt the Bible as the standard of 
right living for its people, and it will be a 
model community in its moral character. The 
same would be true of a nation. And if 
throughout all the world the law of righteous- 
ness and the law of love, as taught and exem- 
plified in the Bible, were received, the world 
would be reformed, regenerated, made glorious 
in the purity and truth and love everywhere 
blessing it. 



52 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

3. Here is suggested a third topic which 
must be noticed : the influence of the Bible on 

the SOCIAL CHARACTER AND CONDITION of men. 

If it has been shown, as I think it has, that the 
Bible, with the religion it teaches, elevates the 
intellectual character of men and purifies their 
moral character, the consequence must be a 
vast improvement in their social character and 
condition. Whatever elevates the mind and 
purifies the heart, makes people, naturally and 
surely, better, happier, worthier, in their social 
life. Toward one another they will do justly 
and love mercy, they will be upright and kindly 
affectioned, in proportion as they have learned 
the law of truth and love which the Bible sets 
before us. 

There is nothing which more illustrates the 
influence of the Bible than the changes wrought 
among a people within a limited period of time 
by its introduction and teachings. In the last 
chapter I gave a statement of such changes in 
the Sandwich Islands, as they were eloquently 
set forth in a report by Rev. Dr. Bacon of New 
Haven at the annual meeting of the American 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 53 

Board of Foreign Missions in 1864. I w ^l 
now give a statement of those changes, that 
was made by a native to Rev. Dr. Anderson in 
his visit to the Islands. This native is an old 
man, the senior deacon in one of the churches. 
His name is Timotea. The address was writ- 
ten by himself in his own language. I give 
the translation. 

"The church-members of the highlands of 
Waimea, the old men, the aged women, the 
strong men, the youth and children, tender, 
through me, their salutation to you, the secre- 
tary, your companion, and daughter. Great 
indeed is our joy in being permitted to see 
you, to welcome you to our land. You have 
been sent by the learned Missionary Society 
of great America, as its delegate, to see the 
works of the gospel heralds you have sent 
to us. 

"We, the ancient men of Kamehameha's 
time, were once idolaters, murderers, guilty of 
infanticide, polygamy, and constantly quarrel- 
ing one with another. 

" On the death of Kamehameha, the kingdom 



54 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

devolved on his son Liholiho. He abolished 
idolatry, broke the tabus ; men and women 
for the first time ate together, and the temples 
and gods were burned to ashes. 

" Still we lived on in poverty and darkness, 
and in secret worship of idols, and were with- 
out the knowledge of the true God. Men, 
women and children were devoted to the most 
sordid pleasures, heathenish dances and revel- 
ries, day and night. In the year 1820, the 
missionaries, Mr. Bingham and company, came 
to these islands to proclaim the blessed gospel 
to us, who knew not God, nor had heard the 
death of Jesus, the Messiah, the Saviour of the 
world. 

"It was you, the Missionary Society you 
represent, that loved us, and sent the good 
missionaries to our dark land. 

"The king and his premier allowed the 
missionaries to dwell with us ; to introduce a 
new order of things ; to teach us first the 
twelve letters of the alphabet, then spelling, 
then reading and writing. 

"During the forty-three years the mission- 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 55 

aries have resided on the islands, much seed 
has been sown, much labor performed, and 
wonderful have been the results. We were 
once all dark, buried in darkness, sunk to the 
lowest depths of ignorance ; roaming about 
the fields and woods like wild beasts ; without 
clothing ; our naked bodies most shamefully 
exposed, and blackened in the sun ; without 
books, without Bibles, without Christianity ; 
plunging into the darkness of hell. Now we 
are clothed like civilized beings ; we are Chris- 
tianized ; we are gathered into churches ; we 
are intelligent ; we are supplied with books, 
Bibles, and hymn books ; and are living for 
God and for heaven. And this through the 
labors of the missionaries you have sent us. 

" Our joy is inexpressible in seeing you ; 
and we beg you to carry back to your associ- 
ates, to the Missionary Society, to all the 
American churches connected with it, the 
warmest salutations of the churches of Waimea 
and Hamakua." 

What a statement is this by a man who had 
seen and known in his own experience both 



56 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the heathen and the Christian condition of his 
people ! 

I will give also one page of the statement 
which Dr. Anderson makes of the changes 
wrought among that people. 

"They were without a written language. 
They were naked barbarians. Lying, drunk- 
enness, theft, robbery, were universal. So was 
licentiousness, and it was shameless, in open 
day. There was no restraint on polygamy or 
polyandry. Mothers buried their infant chil- 
dren alive ; and children did the same with 
their aged and infirm parents. As a conse- 
quence of this moral and social degradation, a 
deadly poison ran through the veins and arte- 
ries of the whole nation, opening the way for 
destructive foreign epidemics, and a rapid de- 
population, which, though greatly checked by 
the influence of the gospel, is not yet wholly 
arrested. Such were the character and con- 
dition of the Hawaiian people in the early part 
of the last generation. 

" But the people have now a written lan- 
guage, and are generally able to read and 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 5/ 

write. They are clothed. The law forbids 
the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits, and 
the law, pronounced constitutional by the Su- 
preme Court while I was there, is enforced. I 
did not see a drunken native while on the 
islands. The law forbids polygamy and poly- 
andry, and they have passed away. Theft and 
robbery are less frequent than they are in the 
United States. We slept at night with open 
doors, had 'no apprehension, and lost nothing. 
Licentiousness still largely exists outside of 
the church, and is one of the easily besetting 
sins within it ; but it now everywhere shuns 
the day, and is subjected to the discipline of 
the church. Nor do mothers any more bury 
their infant children alive, nor children their 
aged and infirm parents." 

I have brought before you this example of 
the influence of the Bible and its religion to 
change the social character and condition of a 
people for the better, not because it is the only 
one, but because it is the most palpable and 
ready at hand for the illustration of the subject. 
The mission to the Zulus in south-eastern 



58 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Africa, the missions to the Armenians in 
Turkey, and to the Nestorians in Persia, if as 
fully reported to us, would furnish illustrations 
perhaps quite as impressive and wonderful. 
The Bible exerts the same sort of influence 
wherever it is carried and received ; not always 
so rapidly and completely within the lifetime 
of those who first carry it, but always surely, 
unless it be rejected. It may be rejected by 
the heathen, as it may by those in Christian 
lands. And when rejected by savage or civil- 
ized men, it fails to change them for the better. 
But its tendency and proper influence can not 
be truly or reasonably denied. 

And since a tree is known by its fruit, the 
Bible is a good tree; it is of God's planting. 
It must bring to men God's truth, because it 
does so great good. Because it so elevates 
the minds of men ; because it so improves their 
morals, and so changes for the better the so- 
cial life and character of those who receive it 
as from God, all men ought to receive it as 
from God. 

The heathen who receive God's truth and 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE. 59 

are saved by it will rise up in the judgment 
against those among us who do not receive it. 
Within the lifetime of some of you, within the 
years that some of you remember, those who 
were sunk in all the iniquities and miseries of 
heathenism have been raised up to the light 
of knowledge, though in the days of their youth 
without a written language, and have been 
made worthy examples of Christian character, 
though in the days of their youth associated 
with the cruelties and corruptions of the most 
debasing heathen life. And yet there are 
those who have known the Bible by name and 
by some acquaintance with its contents from 
their childhood, till they have passed beyond 
the midday of life ; but they have not received 
it into their hearts, nor sought to know it as 
teaching the truth and love of God and the 
way of salvation. And what shall become of 
them ? How shall they stand before the Judge 
of all the earth ; before him who speaks in the 
Bible and says, " This is the way, walk ye in 
it"?. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MAN'S NEED OF A REVELATION. 
" Who will show us any good ? " — Ps. iv. 6. 

'HIS is said to be the question of many. 
There be many that say, Who will show 
us any good ? And if it had been given 
as what all men say it might have been 
accepted for truth. Scarcely can there be 
found any more universal inquiry. 

The good which men seek is of various 
kinds. With many it is earthly, sensual, and 
unworthy of the high capacity of immortal be- 
ings. And one of the strongest arguments 
against the immortality of man is, that so 
many seek to satisfy themselves with earthly 
things, .and seem to have no desires that reach 
above the things of this world. But many also 
inquire for something else. And all, when 

they see and feel how quickly the things of the 
60 



man's need of a revelation. 6 1 

earth are passing away, are sometimes com- 
pelled to look beyond, and to say concerning 
the unseen, the unknown infinite and eternal, 
Who will show us any good ? 

There is a craving of the human heart for 
something which man can not supply to him- 
self, and something which the world can not 
give. Man asks for knowledge beyond the 
range of his own experience and observation, 
beyond all that he can learn from the world in 
which we live. What thoughtful mind has not 
been awakened to inquire, at times, with in- 
tense earnestness, for some definite knowledge 
of God ? What ideas should we have of him ? 
What thoughts concerning him are true and 
right ? Who can tell ? 

i. And this is the first craving of the mind 
to which I ask your notice. Who can tell 
us of God ? 

We can not deny that He exists. No one 
can say there is no God. Or if any be so fool- 
ish, it is easy to retort upon him the question, 
How do you know? And all the answer he 
can give is, in substance, this : " I do not be- 



62 : CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

lieve there is a God. There are a great many 
difficulties in the way of crediting it. For if 
there were a God who made the world and 
governs it, a perfect, almighty Being, it would 
not be such a mixture of good and evil, such a 
contradictory, confused, perplexing, and on the 
whole such a miserable world as it is. A per- 
fect, almighty God would surely make a perfect 
world, if he made any." And so they who 
deny that God exists draw their arguments 
from the mysteries of the world in which we 
live, and sit in judgment on what he should 
do, in order to make their denial have any ap- 
pearance of reason. 

But we can not reasonably deny that God 
exists. We are compelled, if we will be rea- 
sonable, to believe in God. Since man, the 
highest intelligence we know on earth, is de- 
pendent, according to all experience, and is 
accountable, according to the law within him, 
our reason requires us to believe there is a 
higher intelligence, on whom we are dependent, 
and to whom we must give account. And 
what is that higher intelligence ? Supposing 



man's need of a revelation. 63 

that he is the Almighty One and the Supreme 
Ruler, who will tell us anything more about 
him? What shall we think of his character? 
What is the law of his kingdom ? How shall 
we secure his favor ? By what manner of life 
shall we have him for our friend, our protector, 
our helper in time of need, our refuge in every 
extremity? Can we trust in him? Who will 
show us ? our reason cries. Who will give us 
an assurance that we may trust in him at all 
times ? 

Of the world we ask in vain. Of our own 
craving hearts we ask in vain. And where 
shall we turn, whither shall we go, to satisfy 
our* anxious inquiry ? 

Must we think of the Creator as having 
made the world, and set it in order at first, 
but now not caring for it ? And is it thus that 
the disorders we find are to be explained, so far 
as there is any explanation ? . Has the Maker 
of all things left them to go without his regu- 
lating hand ? And is it so that they go 
strangely, as it seems to us, sometimes wrong 
and sometimes right ? Who can tell ? 



64 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

• 

The great course of events moves in an 
orderly way. Science, without revelation, 
teaches that there are certain fixed laws of 
motion and of power ; laws of nature, as they 
are called. So we have day and night. So 
we have the rotation of the seasons, and the 
succession of the years. So we have birth 
and life and death. And is this course of law 
all ? Is God the laws of nature personified, and 
nothing more ? This is the teaching of some 
men's philosophy. Is it true ? Can any one 
tell us so clearly as to satisfy our anxiety ? 

We want to know if God has a kindly regard 
for his intelligent creatures. There are many 
things in the operations and tendencies of his 
works which indicate wisdom and goodness. 
But there are also many terrible things, which 
it is impossible, with our little knowledge, to 
make appear consistent with wisdom and good- 
ness guiding and animating almighty power. 
And is there a human soul anywhere who 
does not sometimes ask, with intense earnest- 
ness, What is the truth concerning the wisdom 
and goodness of God ? Does he love men in 



man's need of a revelation. 65 

and through, or possibly even above his eternal 
law of justice ? May we look up to him as our 
Father ? In all the solemn sternness of law 
and justice, which must abide for ever as surely 
as truth and right, may we still trust and love 
God as having toward us a Father's heart of 
love ? What can we think of God ? How can 
we suppose he looks upon us ? We know that 
we are weak and sinful. Does he stand afar 
off and leave us to our own weakness in temp- 
tation and sin ? Or does he regard us kindly, 
compassionately, lovingly even, in all our wants 
and all our sorrows, — yes, in all our wicked- 
ness ? Who can tell us ? Where shall we 
find anything clear and sure ? • 

If God has not spoken to men, if he has 
made no revelation to the world, if he has not 
manifested himself so that he may be known, 
there is no satisfactory answer to these ques- 
tions. Then all is darkness above us. Thick 
clouds cover the face of him whom we need to 
see shining above the brightness of the sun. 
He is hid from us, whom we need to see com- 



66 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

ing as the Sun of Righteousness with healing 
in his beams. 

But if we admit the full truth of the state- 
ment, " God, who at sundry times and in divers 
manners spake in time past unto the fathers, 
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his 
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, 
by whom also he made the worlds ; " then light 
breaks in upon us, and we begin to see that 
these questions may be answered. We need 
no longer walk in darkness ; for the sun shines 
upon us from on high. God has spoken, and 
we have only to hear his words. Nay, more ; 
God was manifest in the flesh, that we might 
see his glory, and learn to trust him as our 
Father and our God. 

2. But there is another subject on which 
man has a craving for some knowledge that is 
not satisfied without the Bible. 

We want to know something of the life to 
come. We want to know for a certainty 
whether there be a life to come. Doubtless 
there may be grounds for an opinion on this 
important question without a revelation from 



man's need of a revelation. • 67 

God. And yet who can feel so sure if God 
has not spoken as he can if God has spoken ? 
If we do not find anything revealed in the 
Bible more than in other books, if we do not 
see the light of God's truth in it, as it speaks 
of that which shall be hereafter, how can we 
be satisfied that we have any certainty about 
the hereafter ? Who shall tell us, if God has 
not told us ? As we have an earthly life in 
common with other animals, and we can not, 
by our unaided ken, see anything beyond it, 
and as without the Bible we know not that 
any one has ever spoken to men after going 
beyond the life of this world, how do we know 
certainly that there is anything beyond ? How 
do we know that men really are living after 
they have passed away from this life ? 

There is a fashion of thinking, just now, that 
some of those who have passed away, by tip- 
ping tables, or rapping against tables, or in 
some other way, by some sort of medium, 
speak to persons still among the living. And 
what does it all amount to ? What actual in- 
formation is given by all the facts that are re- 



68 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

ported ? Indeed, can any one tell what real 
facts are reported, and what is only pretense ? 
All that I know of the matter shows plainly 
that man has a craving for some knowledge of 
what shall be after death ; and it shows noth- 
ing else so plainly. Man can not be satisfied 
without something which he can take for in- 
formation about that which is before him. He 
asks, What is that dark unknown into which I 
am going? And some are ready to believe 
almost anything which seems to answer, even 
partially, this question. Yet the facts reported 
do not profess to come from God, nor have 
much to do with God. They purport to come 
from men who have gone out of this life, and 
give not the least information concerning the 
ways or the judgments of the Almighty. They 
have on them no stamp of divine authority, no 
appearance even of being a revelation from the 
Creator. Indeed, they make little or no refer- 
ence to him. So far as generally appears, they 
might be the same if there were no God. And 
this fact makes them a matter of little or no 
consequence. They address our craving for 



man's need of a revelation. 69 

some knowledge of what shall be hereafter ; 
but they do not satisfy it. They do not tell us 
what God will do with us. They do not te& 
what he would have us do in preparation for 
the life to come. He does not speak by them. 
It is not even pretended that he speaks by 
them. And so our craving for some knowledge 
of the untried, unknown things after death re- 
mains. If we have no revelation from God, we 
have nothing which meets this intense want 
of our souls. So far as we can satisfy ourselves 
that he speaks on the subject, this want is met, 
and no further. 

We need the voice of God's word speaking 
with authority to tell us of the hereafter. 

3. We need a revelation from God for the 
assurance that our sins may be forgiven. We 
need it both for the knowledge of the fact that 
sin may be forgiven, and for the knowledge of 
the way in which we may obtain pardon. To 
know that we may be forgiven, and the way in 
which we may be forgiven, — this is indeed one 
of the most urgent wants which we can feel. 
There is no necessity of our existence that can 



JO CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. . 

press upon us more heavily and sharply than 
this. 

The fact that we are sinners, when the con- 
science is fully awakened to it, is distressing 
beyond endurance. It fills the soul with re- 
morse, which eats into it like a worm that 
never dies. It makes God in his truth and 
goodness seem like an enemy. Sin, our own 
sin, turns the very goodness of God against 
us ; or rather it so blinds us to his love as to 
make us feel that he hates us. It puts us 
under the condemnation of the eternal law of 
right. By that law, perfect and unchangeable, 
there appears to be no hope for the sinner. 
And if that be God's law, how can he forgive 
us ? This is the most momentous question for 
us sinners which can be asked. And it needs 
a revelation from God to answer it. 

I know that there is a great deal of insensi- 
bility about sin, and that many people do not 
seem to have much feeling of it. Their con- 
sciences seem dead. Only when they commit 
some unusual iniquity do they feel deeply that 
they are sinners. And they often think that 



MAN S NEED OF A REVELATION. 71 

God can not be severe on such weak and 
tempted beings as we are. They say to them- 
selves, Sin is almost as much our misfortune as 
our fault. 

. But still there is a latent kind of conviction 
and fear, a restless anxiety and dread about 
that which is to come. In the busy occupa- 
tions of life it is not much felt. But when 
trouble and disease come, and death is seen 
drawing near, a heavy load presses upon the 
soul. And then the question of all questions 
comes up : Who can tell how we may find par- 
don for sin ? How may we have peace with 
God, so that we shall not fear to meet him ? 
He must be holy and just, and his law can not 
change. Can his goodness, then, and his wis- 
dom and love, find a way of forgiveness and 
blessing and salvation for the sinner ? Can 
this be ? Is it possible ? 

Nothing short of a revelation from God can 
satisfy the questioner. Human conjectures 
and hopes and reasonings are not enough, in 
such a case, to give the soul rest. We need a 
word of God, saying to us plainly, " Your sins 



J2 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

may be forgiven. There is a way of pardon, 
peace, and eternal life open to you. Holy and 
just as God is, he can forgive, and is ready to 
forgive your sins, even the greatest and worst, 
and to bestow on you his abundant love and 
blessing." 

All the miseries of sin which men suffer, 
the self-tortures of the heathen, throwing them- 
selves under their idol cars, or measuring the 
ground with their prostrate bodies through 
long pilgrimages ; and the suicide of more en- 
lightened sinners, when the madness of un- 
bridled passions has unbalanced the mind ; 
and the more quiet yet distressing fears of 
evil to come, in consequence of sin, all testify 
to men their need of a revelation from God. 

And no wisdom of the wise men, nor dreams 
and marvelous stories of the less wise, will 
meet this want. To give the soul light and 
peace and rest and hope, satisfying hope, God 
must speak to us, and we must hear his word. 
This and only this will answer the craving of 
our souls for some clear knowledge of God, for 
some sure truth concerning the life to come, 



man's need of a revelation. 73 

and for the assurance that our sins'may be for- 
given, and God may be well pleased with us 
when we repent, though our sins be so great. 
We need such a revelation as the Bible claims 
to be. 

But an unbeliever may ask, Does this prove 
that the Bible is true ? Do our wants prove 
that they are provided for ? Because a man is 
hungry, is it certain that a dinner will be given 
him, when he can not buy it nor earn it ? No, 
indeed. And I do not bring forward these 
cravings of the soul, continually crying out, 
Who will show us any good ? as proof that we 
have a revelation from God. But they do 
prove that we need it. And this being the 
fact, if God is good, we might reasonably sup- 
pose that he would give such a revelation. It 
seems credible, altogether in agreement with 
his goodness, that he should bestow on us 
such a needed gift. 

Has he done so ? This question remains. 
And for the answer to it we can say, Many 
people think he has. Many of the best people 
in the best parts of the world think that God 



74 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

has given us in the Bible a revelation concern- 
ing himself, his law, his government of the 
world, his goodness to men, concerning the 
life to come and the sure way of promise for it, 
concerning the pardon of sin and the way 
to be certain of God's blessing on the penitent 
sinner. They assure us that the more they 
understand the Bible, the more they receive 
and appreciate its sense and purpose, the more 
it meets the cravings of their spiritual nature, 
and the more they are satisfied that God speaks 
to us in it. 

Now, surely, this testimony is worthy to be 
received so far as to lead all men who wish to 
know the truth to search the Scriptures for 
themselves, and see if they can find God speak- 
ing to them in this book. The craving of our 
minds, and the testimony of those who believe 
the truth of the Christian religion, urge us, 
honestly, earnestly, candidly, to seek for the 
truth in relation to it, by an examination of its 
book of instruction. We say the best proof is 
in the book itself, in the wonderful facts and 
truths it declares, in its meeting the wants of 



MAN S NEED OF A REVELATION. 75 

our souls, and especially in the spiritual com- 
fort and healing it brings us. And so we ad- 
vise others to take the remedy which we have 
found by our own experience to be good for us. 
We entreat you to make a fair trial of it, for 
we are sure it will do you good. You have 
the same need of it that we have. It will meet 
your wants as it meets ours. 

Do not stumble on farther without God in 
the world ; without a good hope for the life to 
come ; without peace by the sure forgiveness 
of sin, in the darkness of unbelief, exposed 
hourly, instantly, to fall into a death of utter 
darkness. Do not so wander and stumble and 
fall ; for the light does shine from the throne 
of God, in the brightness of the Sun of Right- 
eousness, to guide you in the way of truth and 
peace and life eternal. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." 
— Heb. xiii. 8. 

HESE remarkable words place directly 
before us the Lord Jesus Christ in his 
highest character. But my design in 
this chapter is to ask your attention to 
him as he is presented in the New Testament 
historically. I wish to set before you in this 
way the question whether such a history could 
have been written, whether such a character 
could have been placed before the world, if the 
accounts were not substantially true. Can we 
reasonably believe that the gospel narratives 
are fictions, or material exaggerations of a real 
character ? On the decision of this question 
depends the truth and importance of the Chris- 
tian religion. 

76 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. "JJ 

Let us then look, with the most careful and 
candid, the sharpest, deepest and truest exam- 
ination we can make, into this account so com- 
monly received. Let us see if there was such 
a person, and if we are convinced there was, 
whether he was quite unlike any other who 
ever appeared in the world ; whether he is in 
truth,* as Christians believe, the revealer of 
God, the light of the world, the Saviour of sin- 
ners. For this purpose I will make, as briefly 
as I can, a statement of the most important 
facts in the life of Jesus Christ as they are 
given in the gospel histories. 

i. The first is, of course, his birth. The 
narrative states that Jesus was born of Mary, 
having no human father, by the miraculous 
power of God. The announcement was made 
to her beforehand of the sf range, unheard-of 
event, and that her son should be the Son 
of God, and a king of whose kingdom there 
should be no end. 

But at his birth he was in no superior con- 
dition. He ranked among the poor. The 
offering which his mother and his reputed 



78 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

father brought to the temple on the occasion 
was of the kind appointed by the Jewish law 
for the poor : two turtle doves and two young 
pigeons, instead of a lamb and a young pigeon. 
There was nothing in the condition and pros- 
pects of his infancy, as they must have ap- 
peared to human sagacity, adapted to disturb 
the mind of any man in power. But Herod 
was alarmed at hearing that a child was born 
in Bethlehem, who was to be a king. And yet 
the child was so obscure and unknown that 
only by destroying all the children in the place 
of nearly the same age could the tyrant cut off 
this one. And he was not cut off in this way. 
Joseph and Mary fled with the child, at a 
divine warning, into Egypt, till the danger was 
past. Then they returned and dwelt in their 
own city, Nazareth. " And the child grew and 
waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom ; 
and the grace of God was upon him." 

This, in substance, is all we know of his in- 
fancy. Nothing is told to gratify curiosity, 
nothing to show what promise he gave of a 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 79 

wonderful life. Concerning all such things 
there is entire silence. 

2. A glimpse is once only given of his 
childhood. After the annual visit of the family 
to Jerusalem for the observance of the Pass- 
over, when the child was twelve years old, 
as they were returning, he was missed from 
the company with which they traveled. And 
after three days' search he was found, not 
among his kinsfolk and acquaintance, but in 
the temple, in the midst of the doctors, hear- 
ing them and asking them questions. " And 
all that heard him were astonished at his under- 
standing and answers." And well they might 
be, for he was a boy of only twelve years, in a 
family of common rank. 

And surely the wonder which he excited 
was not diminished by the answer that he 
gave to the gentle chiding of his mother: 
" How is it that ye sought me ? Did ye not 
know that I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness ? " 

This glimpse shows that there must have 
been many wonderful things in his childhood 



80 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

and early youth. But they are all passed by, — 
left out of the history. This only we know : 
Mary kept all these things mentioned, and the 
like of them, and pondered them in her heart. 
" And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, 
and in favor with God and man." 

3. His entrance on his public ministry, 
at thirty years of age, is the next thing we find 
about him. 

John, that austere man, who lived apart from 
society and preached repentance, with its 
proper fruits in reformation of life, directed the 
attention of those who heard him to one among 
them mightier than he. Shortly that mightier 
one came to be baptized by him. And when 
he was baptized, the heavens were opened, and 
John saw the Spirit of God descending like a 
dove and lighting upon Jesus. He heard also 
a voice from heaven : " This is my beloved Son 
in whom I am well pleased." 

Why was he thus baptized ? The history 
does not tell us, but only that, when the bap- 
fcizer objected, as himself needing a baptism by 
Jesus, he insisted on it as a proper obedience 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 8 1 

to the law of righteousness. On what account 
it was so proper we have no information. It 
may have been designed for a formal entrance 
upon the public service which he then begun ; 
and it was the occasion of God's formal ac- 
knowledgment of his well-beloved Son. As 
there was a miracle wrought in order that he 
might come into the world by being born of a 
woman, so there was a miracle here in his be- 
ing avowed as the Son of God, when he came 
to enter on his public service in the world. 

It would be natural to speak here of his 
miracles. But they are of such peculiar char- 
acter and importance that I reserve the con- 
sideration of them for another chapter in which 
more attention can be given them. I will only 
say now that the miracles performed by him, 
according to the accounts given of his life, are 
altogether in agreement with the miracles re- 
lating to his birth and his baptism. They are 
very wonderful, in the manifestation by him of 
power and authority. They were of frequent 
occurrence ; and it may not be possible to 
6 



82 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

avoid some reference to them in noticing his 
manner of life. 

His teachings also come in order for consid- 
eration, as we are giving attention to the course 
of his life. But these, too, are of so much im- 
portance that greater attention must be given 
them than can be in this general notice of his 
history. 

4. I pass on, therefore, to consider his man- 
ner of life. As already mentioned, very lit- 
tle is told us concerning his life before his 
baptism. He lived at Nazareth with his 
mother and his supposed father ; and he hon- 
ored them by his obedience. As he is called 
afterward the carpenter's son, we know what 
Joseph's occupation was ; and we have good 
reason to believe that in his early youth he 
was engaged in the same employment. We 
are not told how his years from twelve to 
nearly thirty were spent ; but the very natural 
and reasonable belief is that he worked with 
his own hands in mechanical labor. 

After his baptism he seems to have had no 
constant place of residence. He was some- 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 83 

times at Nazareth, where he had been brought 
up ; and he spent more of his time in Galilee 
than in other parts of the country. But he 
visited Jerusalem several times ; found a wel- 
come and frequent place of rest and refresh- 
ment in the family of Martha and Mary and 
Lazarus, at Bethany ; was the guest some- 
times of Peter, and of others among the com- 
mon people. From this class he selected his 
disciples and most intimate friends. The only 
rich man at whose house it is mentioned that 
he made a visit, is Zaccheus, the publican. 
He went there self-invited, but according to 
the eager desire of the man to know him, and 
that he might receive for a disciple one whom 
the Jews abhorred for his office of tax collector 
for the Roman government. 

Jesus had no home. This is a marked fact 
in his manner of life. He had no family es- 
tablishment. He did not own a house. He 
did not own anything, for he had not where to 
lay his head. He did not choose to become 
the holder of real estate or any kind of prop- 
erty. If he can be said to have had an occu- 



84 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

pation, he was a teacher by his words, and a 
doer of good by his miracles. He went from 
place to place, attracting many to him by his 
words of wisdom, truth, and power, and by his 
wonderful works. 

Of the many who were led to receive his 
teachings, he chose twelve to be his constant 
attendants. They were with him as familiar 
friends, obedient and trustful followers, learn- 
ing from the wisdom that continually flowed 
from his lips and his life. They believed him 
to be the Son of God, the anointed One, the 
great king whom they understood to be fore- 
told by their national prophets. They expected 
him to set up a kingdom in the world. And 
they doubtless had some worldly expectations 
in following him. They seem to have cher- 
ished such expectations up to the time of his 
arrest, trial, and execution. And even after- 
ward, when he rose from the dead, these 
worldly ideas were revived in their minds, so 
that they asked, " Lord, wilt thou at this time 
restore again the kingdom to Israel ? " But 
he steadily rejected every suggestion of a 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 85 

worldly kingdom. While avowing himself a 
king, he declared by all his conduct as well as 
by express words at last, " My kingdom is not 
of this world" His relatives sometimes, and 
his followers also, spoke of his kingdom. But 
he, though he declared that the kingdom 
of God was at hand and plainly assumed to be 
its king, formed no plans for worldly power, 
and abstained from all connection with it. 

He had in a wonderful degree the popular 
favor. He was especially interested in the 
common people. He associated with them in 
preference to what are commonly called the 
higher classes. It seems as if he might easily 
have organized them for any enterprise which 
men could effect by plans and combinations of 
numbers. But he did not attempt any organi- 
zation whatever. Even the Christian church 
grew up from the company of his followers, 
without any plan which he had expressly set 
before them, by the use of two rites which he 
had appointed for them, and in other respects 
just as the circumstances of their condition 
led them to associate. So far was he from 



86 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

making for himself a party among men, or 
seeking for himself power in the world. 

Yet he was by no means recluse in his 
habits. On the contrary, he mingled freely 
and easily in society. He wss friendly and 
compassionate toward the poor, and severe 
only toward the rich and prosperous, when 
they were selfish and not considerate of the 
poor. In behalf of the suffering and the help- 
less he wrought many of his miracles. Even 
toward the guilty he was tender-hearted. " Go 
and sin no more," he said to the adulterous 
woman on whom his enemies tried to make 
him give judgment. 

He was wonderful for the skill and wisdom 
with which he encountered opposition. The 
most crafty enemies could not catch him in 
his talk. Though not educated in learning, 
he knew the hearts of men so well that none 
could deceive him. And so he lived in the 
midst of enemies, without a home, without 
friends of influence or power, without any 
plans or efforts for worldly success or worldly 
interests. He just went from place to place 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 8/ 

with his disciples, talking to them and to other 
people so as to fill his friends with wonder and 
admiration, and so as to baffle his enemies. 

And as he drew near the end of his course, 
according to the history, he lived in constant 
expectation of it. He made preparation not to 
avoid but to meet the violent death which 
came upon him. He lived looking forward to 
it. Nay, he even declared that he laid down 
his life of himself; that no man could take it, 
but he had power to lay it down and take it 
again. 

5. We come now to consider his death and 

THE ATTENDING CIRCUMSTANCES. In all the 

four narratives there is no sign that he ex- 
pected to live longer than he did, or that he 
made any plans which were defeated by his 
death. On the contrary, it appears that he 
did just what he intended, and all that he in- 
tended. And his death, instead of being a 
surprise to him, or a disappointment of his 
plans in life, was according to his expectations 
and repeated declarations, — was in fact the re- 
sult of his life to which he looked forward. It 



88 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

was not only according to the plan of God 
that he should die as he did, as all events are, 
but according to his own personal plan of life. 
He chose the course of life which he knew 
would end in the death he suffered. And he 
repeatedly signified to his disciples what death 
he should die. He even taught them that the 
very death which he experienced was necessary 
to complete the purpose of his life. " And I, 
if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
men unto me. This he said signifying what 
death he should die. ,, They did not under- 
stand it then, but afterward they did. And 
afterward they understood the object of his 
death as they did not before. 

In several things the death of Christ is rep- 
resented as remarkable. 

(i.) It was voluntary. It was not by com- 
pulsion, or for the want of power to resist and 
to escape,, that he submitted to the will of his 
enemies. They could have had no power 
against him if he had not yielded himself to 
them. But it was the plan of God, and his 
plan, that he should die for his people. " I lay 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 89 

down my life for the sheep. Therefore doth 
my Father love me, because I lay down my 
life, that I might take it again. No man taketh 
it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have 
power to lay it down, and I have power to take 
it again." 

Accordingly, when the band, guided by 
Judas, went to arrest him, he declared himself 
Jesus of Nazareth, whom they sought ; and 
they went backward and fell on the ground. 
Thus in their very act of making him a pris- 
oner he made them feel his power to resist 
them if he chose. But he did not choose to 
resist. He yielded himself to their will. He 
even reproved Peter, who, in the excitement 
of the moment, struck off the ear of the servant 
Malchus ; and he healed the ear with his touch. 
Then he submitted himself to the mockery of 
a trial before Caiaphas, the high priest, and 
the council of the chief priests and scribes, 
and also before Pilate, the Roman governor. 

(2.) His death was sought and procured by 
leading and influential men among the Jews. 
They secured his arrest. They condemned 



90 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

him to death in their own way first, and then 
took him to the Roman governor to have their 
condemnation ratified and carried into effect. 
They condemned him to death as guilty of 
blasphemy. But this crime was not against 
Roman law, and could not be noticed by a 
Roman magistrate. So before Pilate they ac- 
cused him of seeking to make himself a king. 
And they brought up his claim to be a king 
as proof of their accusation. To this he sim- 
ply replied, " My kingdom is not of this world." 
The reply was sufficient. It agreed with the 
whole course of Jesus' life. And Pilate him- 
self declared that he found no fault in him. 
The representative of the great Roman Em- 
pire proposed then to the multitude of the 
Jews that he should release Jesus, according 
to a custom of allowing the release of a pris- 
oner by their request at the Passover. He 
knew, doubtless, that the people had been 
drawn in large numbers to hear this wonderful 
teacher, and that the chief priests and elders 
sought his death from their malicious envy. 
But now the people, influenced by wicked 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 91 

leaders, preferred Barabbas, and demanded 
that Jesus should be crucified. Pilate yielded 
to the urgency of the Jewish priests and peo- 
ple, and condemned one whom he knew to be 
innocent to the death of the cross. 

(3.) This was not a Jewish but a Roman 
mode of execution. If the Jews had been an 
independent nation and not subject to the Ro- 
man government, he would not have been put 
to death in this way. And if the Roman ruler 
had been fearlessly just, and not weakly wicked, 
he would not have been put to death in any 
way. 

(4.) It is worthy of special notice that, in 
order to the death of Jesus, one of the chosen 
twelve, those most intimately associated with 
his life, betrayed him, and guided the persons 
sent to arrest him. By this means his arrest 
was private, and the advantage gained by his 
enemies of an accusation made and condemna- 
tion procured before an opportunity was given 
his friends to do anything in his behalf. But 
why did one who discerned the thoughts of 



92 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

men have a traitor among the intimate associ- 
ates of his life ? 

Because the very plan and purpose of his 
life included his betrayal and his death. 

According to the purpose of God and the 
plan of his life, from the persistent, malicious 
hatred of leading influential Jews, by the be- 
trayal of Judas, and by the condemnation of 
the Roman governor, without cause and con- 
trary to justice, Jesus was put to death on the 
cross. But this was not the end of his course 
on earth. 

(5.) He rose from the dead on the third day 
from his crucifixion. According to his own 
saying, " I lay down my life, that I might take 
it again," he came forth from the tomb and 
showed himself alive to his disciples. He ap- 
peared to them on different occasions and in 
various ways, sometimes to one, two, or three, 
sometimes to the eleven, sometimes to a larger 
number. He pointed them to the marks of 
his crucifixion in his hands and feet and body. 
He ate with them, and talked with them. 
Some of them were slow to believe that he had 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 93 

risen ; but he removed all their doubts. It 
does not appear that he had the eleven with 
him so constantly as before he was crucified. 
But he was with them frequently during forty 
days, and gave them particular instructions, 
charging them, with special emphasis, to go 
into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
every creature, assuring them also that he 
would be with them unto the end of the world. 

And finally, on Mt. Olivet, in the midst of 
the assembled disciples, directing them to wait 
in Jerusalem for a special baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, and giving them the promise, " Ye shall 
receive power after the Holy Ghost is come 
upon you ; and ye shall be witnesses unto me 
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth ;" then, "while they beheld, he was taken 
up ; and a cloud received him out of their 
sight. ,, 

Thus was finished the course on earth of 
him who claimed to set up the kingdom of God 
on earth and to be its King. And the conclu- 



94 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

sion is mast appropriate, whatever may be 
thought of the history. 

Is this wonderful narrative, of which I have 
given a very imperfect outline, entirely a fic- 
tion ? This is not pretended by the learned 
and able men who reject all that is super- 
natural, miraculous, and a special revelation 
from God. They admit that a good, wise, and 
very extraordinary man named Jesus lived in 
Judea at the period of this history. But they 
assume that there never was, and, most of them, 
that there never can be such an event as a 
miracle. Accordingly, they take out, by some 
device or other, all that is supernatural in the 
statements which have come to us concerning 
Jesus Christ. All that is of such a character 
they ascribe to the skillful contrivance, to the 
cunning, or the wisdom, or the fertile imagina- 
tion, of Jesus and his disciples. They suppose 
that to a basis of facts large additions of fic- 
tion have been made ; and so have come in all 
the most wonderful things in the New Testa- 
ment. Is this a reasonable way to treat the 
four narratives which are called the Gospels ? 



THE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF CHRIST. 95 

Is it so reasonable as to take them for honest 
and true statements of facts ? 

One thing is certain. There is presented in 
the gospel history a very wonderful character, 
such as the world has never seen beside. He 
was a man without any taint of earthly corrup- 
tion, and free from the common weaknesses 
of humanity. He was a teacher of singular 
purity, simplicity, wisdom, force and authority. 
He reproved the wickedness of the world. He 
gave glory to God. He did good to men. 
Was he not .then in truth the messenger of 
God ? Was he not the Saviour whom God 
sent to save men from their sins ? Ought we 
not all to receive him as our Saviour and our 
Lord ? 

" His name shall be the Prince of Peace, 
For evermore adored, 
The Wonderful, the Counselor, 
The great and mighty Lord." 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 

" And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious 
words which proceeded out of his mouth." — Luke iv. 22. 

HIS was at Nazareth, where Jesus had 
been brought up. It was in the syna- 
gogue on the Sabbath day. He was ac- 
customed, it seems from the narrative, 
to take an active part in the synagogue wor- 
ship. He read a passage from the writings 
of Isaiah, and then made comments on it. 
The comments are not given, but only the 
words with which he began : " This day is this 
Scripture fulfilled in your ears." Then, in- 
stead of any further report of what he said, we 
have the statement, "And all bare him wit- 
ness, and wondered at the gracious words 
w T hich proceeded out of his mouth." This 
shows that what he said awakened interest, 
96 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 97 

and made a most favorable impression. It 
drew forth the admiration of those who heard 
him. 

By gracious words we must understand, I 
think, words of kindness, which seemed richly 
laden with blessings to the hearers. 

The passage indicates in some degree the 
character of the teachings of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. And the peculiar excellence of those 
teachings is the subject for our present con- 
sideration. If I do not quite mistake, they are 
such as to show that he was a divine teacher ; 
that God was with him, authorizing the instruc- 
tions he gave ; and that we ought to receive his 
teachings as really and truly from God. I do 
not suppose that any one quality of these 
teachings will show that they are certainly 
divine ; but I do suppose that the various 
qualities combined will show it beyond any 
reasonable question. 

i. The purity of Christ's teachings is 
the first thing that I suggest for consideration. 
It is a very remarkable fact that the teachings 
ascribed to him in the New Testament history 



98 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

are generally acknowledged to be the purest 
the world has known. Believer and unbeliever 
alike admits this. Scarcely can there be found 
any one who calls it in question. The differ- 
ence is, that the believer regards the teachings 
of Christ as absolutely right, perfect, and of 
divine authority ; while the unbeliever says 
they are good, excellent, the best the world 
has known, though they may not be without 
fault, and are not of divine authority. But by 
the consent of all writers and thinkers on the 
subject of morals, so far as I know, there is no 
pretension that the world has ever learned a 
purer morality than that which was taught by 
Jesus Christ. Nor indeed has any been found 
which bears comparison with it, unless derived 
from it. Certainly this is the settled opinion 
of those generally who give attention to such 
matters. In nothing is there a greater una- 
nimity of judgment throughout the enlightened 
portions of the world. 

This being the fact, it is hardly needful to 
try to prove that the teachings .of Christ sur- 
pass all others in their purity. It will be bet- 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 99 

ter to notice how they so excel. They ascribe 
the moral character of our actions to the mo- 
tives, or state of mind, from which we act. He 
that is angry with his brother, and has no good 
reason for it, is guilty of murder. He who 
cherishes lustful desires is guilty of adultery. 
Jesus fastens on the minds of men the convic- 
tion that this must be so, by declaring that 
God looks into the heart and requires perfect 
righteousness. 

The standard of right which he sets before 
us is the highest that can be. It is perfect. 
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart and mind and soul, and thy neighbor 
as thyself. ,, " Be ye therefore perfect, as your 
Father in heaven is perfect." So high a 
standard of righteousness, adopted by him as 
the rule of his teachings, would, of course, if 
strictly followed, make them entirely right. 

Nothing more was needed to secure that ex- 
cellent purity which is commonly ascribed to 
the teachings of our Lord than these two 
things : the tracing of all that is truly right or 
wrong to the motives or the state of tliQ mind, 



IOO CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

and the adoption of the true standard, the law 
of perfect righteousness. This discerning of 
motives and measuring of all things by the law 
of perfect right was made effectual by con- 
stantly pointing all men to the throne of the 
Holy One, reminding them of the judgment 
he gives. Jesus taught effectually those who 
heard him that we always have to do with the 
one Being who looks on the heart and judges 
righteously. And this was in no small degree 
the secret of his power. 

Since Jesus Christ in his words of truth and 
power brought the eye of God to look upon the 
lives of men, and made those who listened to 
him conscious of being under the omniscient 
eye, we need not think it strange that no un- 
believer, however disposed, has been able to 
find any impurity in his teachings, or trace 
any bad influence to them ; but they have 
stood out before the world, through the ages 
since he was on earth, in the light and glory 
and purity of divine truth. 

2. Sympathy with the wants and the 
sorrows of men is another characteristic of 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. IOI 

his teachings. When the messengers of John 
the Baptist came to ask if he was the Messiah, 
he said, "The poor have the gospel preached 
to them." He always showed compassion for 
the poor. His heart was full of sympathy for 
the suffering. Both in his works and in his 
words he gave them consolation. 

In the passage from which the words at the 
beginning of this chapter are taken, we are 
told that he read from the prophet Isaiah : 
" The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he 
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the 
poor ; he hath sent me to heal the broken- 
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, 
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the 
acceptable year of the Lord." And when he 
closed the book and sat down and said, " This 
day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears," he 
went on to speak according to the portion of 
Scripture which he had read. And it was this 
speaking in agreement with that remarkable 
passage, which awakened the wonder of all at 
his gracious words. Nothing could show more 



102 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

plainly his sympathy with the afflicted. The 
prophecy, which he applied to himself, declared 
this expressly. And if we turn to the prophet, 
and notice what follows the portion read, the 
whole passage appears still more remarkable. 
It is this : " To proclaim the acceptable year 
of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our 
God ; to comfort ail that mourn ; to appoint 
unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto 
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourn- 
ing, the garment of praise for the spirit of 
heaviness ; that they may be called trees of 
righteousness ; the planting of the Lord, that 
he might be glorified." 

After we find such a prophecy claimed as 
belonging to Christ, we may well expect to 
find him pronouncing peculiar blessings on the 
poor in spirit, on those who mourn, on the 
meek, on the pure in heart, and on such as are 
persecuted for the sake of righteousness. It 
seems a matter of course that we should see 
him everywhere having sympathy with the 
sorrowing. Most of his miracles were wrought 
in behalf of those who were suffering from dis- 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. IO3 

ease or some bodily privation. Toward those 
who were despised by their fellow-men he 
manifested special kindness. He talked with 
the woman of Samaria by Jacob's well, though 
she was not the most respectable character, till 
she saw that he knew her life, and came to be- 
lieve in him as the Christ, and to drink of the 
living water which he only could give. To the 
woman caught in adultery, whom his enemies 
brought to him, he spoke in kindness, when he 
told her to go and sin no more. Compassion 
toward the poor and toward the sinful was 
very prominent in his teachings, as it has 
always been a prominent part of his influence 
in the world. 

His chosen friends were not the wealthy, or 
those in high social positions. He could be 
indeed the guest of a rich man, like Zaccheus, 
carrying salvation to his house. But Zaccheus 
was despised by the Jews because he was a 
publican. And those whom Jesus brought 
nearest to him were Martha and Mary and 
Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene, and the fisher- 
men of Galilee. It is worthy of special notice 



104 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

that one of the most correct and faultless of all 
those who proposed to become his disciples, 
having great possessions, was required to sell 
all that he had and give the proceeds to the 
poor, and could not otherwise be received as a 
disciple. Thus alike by precept and example 
did he show himself the special friend of the 
poor. 

3. The SIMPLICITY OF HIS TEACHINGS is 

worthy of particular notice. He spoke very 
plainly, and he illustrated his thoughts famil- 
iarly, so as to interest all who heard him. The 
common people heard him gladly. This was 
partly, no doubt, because he made them feel 
that he was their friend, but also partly be- 
cause he made them understand many things 
which he said to them, which they had not 
known before. His parables, such as the good 
Samaritan, the publican and the Pharisee, the 
lost sheep, the prodigal son, the tares and the 
wheat, are so familiar to us that we do not 
think how peculiarly instructive, impressive, 
and full of significance they are. The like of 
them are not to be found, for influence upon the 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. IO5 

minds of all people, in all the other literature 
of the world. Simplicity has always been 
reckoned a remarkable characteristic of his 
teachings. 

4. But there was also a wonderful mystery 
in them. This is quite as marked as the sim- 
plicity with which he spoke. Oftentimes he 
seems to have spoken designedly so that his 
meaning could not be fully understood, even by 
his best friends. He awakened the wonder, 
but did not satisfy the inquiries of those who 
heard him. In repeated instances his words 
were more for instruction afterward than at 
the time they were spoken. When he said, 
" He that drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him, — it shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life/' there was 
something mysterious in his words. His mean- 
ing did not plainly appear. 

And the mystery is greater in these sayings : 
" Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, 
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood 
hath eternal life ; . . . for my flesh is meat in- 



106 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

deed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that 
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwell- 
eth in me and I in him." These expressions, 
and all like them, were dark to the disciples, 
and to all who heard him. And when later he 
declared, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto me," it also was a dark say- 
ing. Afterward his meaning in this instance 
was plain enough, but then it was a great mys- 
tery. So when he called himself a king, but 
avoided even every appearance of assuming 
authority in the affairs of state, it was hard for 
those who trusted and followed him to under- 
stand the meaning of his words and actions. 

There are some portions of his teachings on 
which the mystery still remains in no small 
degree. Such, it seems to me, are those pre- 
dictions in the twenty-fourth chapter of Mat- 
thew, about the destruction of Jerusalem, which 
also, from the strength and breadth of the lan- 
guage used, seem to foretell the end of the 
world. Is there not likewise a mystery too 
deep for us to explain in what he says about 
his union with the Father ? Who can tell ex- 



CHRJST AS A TEACHER. ICJ 

actly in what sense he is one with the Father, 
as he said, while it is also true that he said, 
" My Father is greater than I " ? 

Many things he spoke very plainly ; and 
still, over many of his sayings is the darkness 
of mystery. 

5. There is a negative, or an omission, 
in our Saviour's teachings worthy of special 
notice. There is in them no confession of sin. 
There is not expressed or apparent any con- 
sciousness of sin. The whole manner, tone, 
and language of the Great Teacher is as if he 
had no thought of §in as belonging to himself, 
while he is always charging it on all men in all 
the world beside. 

There is, indeed, no boasting of freedom 
from sin, no declaration of innocence, such as 
we often hear from men in the world. Men 
very often proclaim their own righteousness. 
He does not this. He speaks as if he had no 
need to make confession, or to say that he was 
not a sinner. And yet he speaks of himself 
much, and of sin much, but always as if he had 
no concern with it in himself, though he had 



108 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

great concern with it in others. He says, " I 
am come not to call the righteous, but sinners 
to repentance." He came to seek and to 
save that which was lost. He came to be the 
Saviour of sinners. He speaks of himself as 
if he personally had no part nor lot in sin, nor 
in any of the evils which belong to it. And 
yet in all the accounts of him it is kept before 
us that he came into the world to save sinners, 
and that his kingdom is a kingdom of salvation 
from sin. 

This, truly, is a wonderful singularity in 
Jesus Christ as a teacher. In this respect he 
stands entirely apart from all other men. All 
teachers beside make acknowledgment of their 
sins and imperfections ; or, if they do not, they 
seem to be ignorant of themselves, and often 
show the sins which they do not confess. But 
he stands alone as having not the taint of sin 
upon him, according to his own view, and ac- 
cording to the whole history ; yet calling sin- 
ners to turn from their sins and be saved in 
his kingdom. His work is not to save himself, 
but to save others. " The Son of man came 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. IO9 

not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and 
to give his life a ransom for many." Men are 
sinners, and need a Saviour. He came to be 
their Saviour. For this he does not become a 
sinner, but he lays down his life for sinners. 

It was to his disciples one of the mysteries 
of his teachings, that he was to be put to 
death, that he was going to lay down his life 
and take it again. He was not compelled by 
the power of man to give up his life, as good 
men in this wicked world often have been. 
His enemies thought he was, and thought they 
prevailed against him. But not so did he 
teach. He said, " I lay down my life for the 
sheep. . . No man taketh it from me, but I lay 
it down of myself. I have power to lay it 
down, and I have power to take it again." 

Thus the sinless died for the sinful. This is 
according to the record of the gospel histories. 
And such is the account given of him that 
there seems nothing unnatural in regarding 
him as sinless, while he declared that he laid 
down his life for sinners. 

6. The teachings of Christ are marked by a 



IIO CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

VERY SINGULAR CONCERN FOR SINNERS. This 

is shown by the declarations just now quoted, 

— that he came not to call the righteous, but 
sinners ; and to seek and to save that which 
was lost. To the same purpose is the parable 
of the lost sheep, and that of the lost piece of 
silver, with the instruction drawn from them, 

— "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in 
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more 
than over ninety and nine just persons which 
need no repentance." 

This is very singular language, however it 
may be understood. If it be taken in the ex- 
actly literal sense, the repentance of one sin- 
ner gives greater joy to God and his angels in 
heaven than would be given by ninety-nine 
persons who had never sinned. It shows a 
very wonderful interest in sinners. The re- 
pentance and the salvation of sinners, it would 
then seem, is a matter of intense concern to 
the inhabitants of heaven, even above the 
virtue and righteousness of those who have not 
sinned. 

Or, if the language be understood to mean 



CHRIS.T AS A TEACHER. I I I 

that the repentance of one sinner, known and 
acknowledged to be very wicked, gives greater 
joy in heaven than do ninety and nine per- 
sons who are of respectable character and not 
charged with special wickedness, the instruc- 
tion is the same. Christ expressly teaches in 
this way that God and his angels are especially 
interested in the repentance and salvation of 
sinners. 

The same thing is shown by the manner in 
which he speaks of publicans and sinners, and 
by his treatment of them. He spoke of them 
in a more hopeful way than of the Pharisees, 
who were, in the general estimation, the more 
respectable class of people. And he treated 
them with greater attention. He seems never 
to have despaired of men on account of their 
degradation in wickedness, while he did some- 
times speak as if there could be no hope of 
those, however esteemed in the world, who 
were proudly self-satisfied in their sins. He 
said to the Pharisees, in substance, — Publicans 
and sinners are pressing into the kingdom of 
God before you. This he taught very plainly 



112 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

by the different prayers which he set forth as 
addressed to God by a publican and a Pharisee, 
showing plainly that the publican's prayer, 
" God be merciful to me a sinner," must be ac- 
cepted, and the other must be rejected. 

Many Christians have not learned to be 
careful for sinners, as Jesus was and taught 
that we should be, when they are low, despised, 
and miserable. We can pity the poor when 
they are virtuous ; but for the poor when they 
are vicious we have too little compassion. 
The more we have of his spirit, the more we 
shall learn to be like him in this matter. The 
more shall we learn to be concerned for the 
good of those whom the world despises as 
worthless, or hates as worse than worthless. 

7. He taught that we should love our 
enemies. This is another peculiarity of his 
teachings. It was a precept of heathen mo- 
rality, " Be not surpassed by your friends in 
doing them benefits, nor by your enemies in 
doing them injuries." Very different was the 
precept of our Lord in relation to our enemies. 
He said, " Love your enemies, do good to them 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. II3 

that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray 
for them who despitefully use you and perse- 
cute you." 

To this high grandeur of goodness does he 
call his disciples, and teach them to be, in this 
way, like their Father in heaven, as he, in his 
manhood, was like God. This is so unlike the 
best moral precepts of men without the Bible 
that we may well call it a divine element in 
the instruction of the Great Teacher. 

8. Jesus Christ as a teacher shows a divine 
mastership. He was the Master and Lord 
of the disciples. He was far more their supe- 
rior than any one man is the superior of an- 
other. The difference between him and them, 
between him and all men to whom he spoke, 
was so wide that there is nothing like it in the 
relations of other teachers to their disciples. 
The wise men of the world often draw around 
them friends a little less wise than they, with 
whom they talk in pleasant and familiar con- 
versation. The wiser, who may be regarded 
as the teacher, doubtless imparts to the others 
more knowledge, more wisdom, more truth, 



114 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

than he receives from them. But he receives, 
also, as well as gives. He is only first among 
those who in many things are his equals. 

But Jesus stood among his disciples as the 
light shining in darkness. He was the true 
Light which lighteth every man. He was 
their Lord and their Master. They gave him 
homage. They were obedient to him. They 
received his words as spoken by one who had 
indeed a right to be heard and obeyed. He 
spoke with authority and power, overawing his 
enemies, silencing their cavils, convincing them 
of sin, leaving them without excuse if they 
would not repent and believe in him ; and bless- 
ing his friends with peace and hope, with joyful 
confidence in him, and in his promise of ever- 
lasting life. " Ye call me Lord and Master," 
he said ; " and ye do well." They could not 
do otherwise : they felt him to be their Lord 
and Master. 

But he taught by his actions, as well as by 
his words. He washed their feet, doing the 
work of a servant for them, that he might im- 
press on their minds the lesson of doing ser- 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. I 1 5 

vice one to another. " If I then, your Lord 
and Master, have washed your feet, ye also 
ought to wash one another's feet. For I have 
given you an example that ye should do as I 
have done to you." 

So did he condescend to do service to the 
disciples for their instruction and benefit. But 
he lost not one whit of his superiority in so 
doing. Nor did he, when he submitted to the 
suffering of the cross. Before Pilate he was 
a king. And after his resurrection, in his 
treatment of his disciples, in the commission 
he gave them to preach the gospel in all the 
world, and his promise to be with them always, 
he still showed his divine authority and power 
as their Master and Lord. 

Now, it must be remembered that Jesus 
claimed to be the Son of God, and to speak 
with the approbation and authority of God. 
If his claim is good, w 7 e have a revelation from 
God by him. Are his peculiar characteristics 
as a teacher consistent with this claim ? Do 
they confirm it as far as they go ? We have 
seen that they are marked by singular purity, 



Il6 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

as even unbelievers declare, by sympathy with 
the wants and sorrows of men, by great sim- 
plicity and plainness in many things, by a 
strange mystery also in many things, by a 
peculiar care for sinners, even the worst, by 
enjoining love to enemies, and by a divine 
mastership. He speaks and acts as one who 
really had the authority and the power of God. 

Can it be that such a teacher was an im- 
postor, pretending that God was with him, and 
deceiving the people ? Truly, the purity of his 
teachings, and the reverence for God which 
marks them everywhere, make the • supposition 
altogether unreasonable. Or can it be that he 
was an enthusiast, who imagined himself to be 
the messenger of God and speaking with God's 
authority, when he was not ? This supposition 
is equally unreasonable. The purity of his 
teachings, their adaptation to human wants, 
and their wise plainness, are quite inconsistent 
with his being a weak man, who imagined him- 
self specially commissioned of God contrary to 
:he fact. 

The reasonable conclusion is that God has 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. I 1 7 

spoken to us by Jesus Christ. Then indeed 
God says to us, " This is my beloved Son, hear 
ye him." We should hear him when he says 
that he came to call sinners to repentance. 
We should hear him when he says, " The Son 
of man came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many." 

Jesus Christ came indeed as a teacher, the 
Great Teacher, of higher authority and higher 
worth than all others. But he came not as a 
teacher only. He is a Saviour also, the one 
only Saviour for sinful men. So he teaches, 
when he calls on men everywhere to trust in 
him and receive the promise of salvation. And 
how glorious the promise he gives to them who 
believe on him ; how solemn the warning to 
them who do not believe ! " He that believeth 
on him is not condemned ; but he that be- 
lieveth not is condemned already, because he 
hath not believed in the name of the only-be- 
gotten Son of God." 



CHAPTER VII. 

MIRACLES. 

" Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God ; 
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God 
be with him." — John iii. 2. 

'HIS you will recognize as the address of 
Nicodemus, when he came to Jesus by 
night. The miracles, which were well 
known and could not be denied, seemed 
to this candid ruler of the Jews certain proof 
that the teacher who was endowed with power 
to do such wonders came with a commission 
from God. And men have generally been of 
the same opinion, when they have believed the 
miracles to be real. 

But many have called in question the reality 
of miracles, and even the possibility of them. 
And in considering the evidences of Chris- 
tianity we must meet this question. In order 
to meet it, let us see, — 
118 



MIRACLES. 119 

I. What is a miracle? What sort of 
events are called miracles in the Bible, and in 
all the proper use of language ? Various defi- 
nitions have been given. I can think of none 
better than this. A miracle is an event so far 
above the course of nature and the power of 
man that we reasonably ascribe it to the direct 
and extraordinary action of God, and can not 
reasonably refer it to any other cause. It is 
an act of God so direct and extraordinary that 
his agency in it is manifest, and can not be rea- 
sonably denied. It is not merely a wonderful 
and startling event, which we can not explain. 
Such an event might be ascribed to some 
natural cause, which we do not see, but may 
learn hereafter ; or it might be brought about 
by some extraordinary power of man, which we 
have not yet known ; or it might be effected 
by some other power less than God. There 
are doubtless powers of nature operating in 
the world which no man has found out. And 
men have sometimes attained to most surpris- 
ing skill in the use of their faculties of body 
and mind, so that they are able to do things 



120 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

which are very strange and mysterious to 
other men. And we certainly do not know 
but there are beings having some agency in 
this world, who are superior to men but inferior 
to God. We may suppose there are such be- 
ings, and that they can do things which we 
can not do. 

I have intended, by the definition I have 
given of a miracle, to shut out all events which 
it can be reasonably supposed are produced by 
any of these three causes or all of them. 
Plainly, anything which can be produced by 
any or all of these three causes, the unknown 
forces of nature, the extraordinary powers of 
man, or the agency of other beings than God, 
— anything so produced is no proof of God's 
special presence, no revelation of his authority 
and power. The real miracles, events which 
prove that God speaks to us, must be such as 
can not be reasonably ascribed to any other 
cause than God. They must be such as show 
that God is with the person at whose word 
they take place. 

The miracles wrought by Christ are of this 



MIRACLES. 121 

character. Said Nicodemus, " No man can do 
these miracles that thou doest, except God be 
with him." And when Jesus said to a man 
brought to him helpless with palsy, "Arise, 
take up thy bed, and go to thy house," and the 
man did as he was told ; when he gave sight 
to one well known to be blind by a word, or by 
putting clay on his eyes ; and when the sick, 
and even the dead, at his command arose in 
health, was not the conclusion of Nicodemus 
reasonable ? Could he reasonably form any 
other opinion ? 

But there are those, and some of them are 
men of great learning, who deny that there 
can be a miracle. Some say that a miracle 
can not be ; and some say that if it can be, it 
can not be proved by any testimony. And 
they give scientific reasons, according to their 
views of science, against the belief of any such 
events. 

2. Let these questions then be the second 
topic for our consideration : Can there be a 
miracle ? Can it be proved by testimony ? 

Those who deny that there can be a miracle 



122 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

argue in this way : " It is contrary to the course 
of nature for a miracle to take place. But 
the course of nature is fixed and can not be 
changed. Physical science settles the matter. 
The causes always in operation must always 
produce the same effects. Therefore such an 
event as a miracle, deranging the course of 
nature, violating the law of cause and effect, 
can not be." This is a brief statement of the 
argument against the possibility of miracles. 

Some skeptics, more cautious, do not so 
much argue against the possibility of miracles 
as against the possibility of proving them. 
" All our knowledge," it is said, " depends on 
experience. We receive the evidence of testi- 
mony, because we have learned by experience 
that men tell the truth. But we have not 
learned that they uniformly tell the truth. On 
the contrary, we have learned that in many 
cases they vary from it, sometimes by mistake, 
sometimes intentionally. And so we can not 
have perfect confidence in the testimony of 
men, even the best. But the uniform experi- 
ence of all men leads us to have perfect confi- 



MIRACLES. 123 

dence in the course of nature. Therefore it is 
more reasonable to believe that the witnesses 
for miracles have, in some way, been deceived, 
or been led to give false testimony, than to be- 
lieve that there has been a variation from the 
course of nature." This is substantially the 
celebrated argument of Hume. The conclu- 
sion is strongly stated in his own words : " A 
miracle is a violation of the laws of nature ; 
and as a firm, unalterable experience has es- 
tablished these laws, the proof against a mira- 
cle, from the very nature of the fact, is as 
entire as any argument from experience can 
possibly be imagined." 

It is a fatal objection to all these arguments, 
that they leave out of view the agency, the 
power, and even the existence of God. They 
are essentially atheistic. If there be a God, 
who has established the course of nature and 
regulates its operation, he certainly can vary 
its operation, and can manifest his presence 
and power in varying its operation. If God 
exists, the creator and ruler of the world, he 
can work miracles, and can reveal himself to 



124 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

men by miracles. He is above the course of 
nature, a super-natural being. He can, there- 
fore, vary or interrupt the ordinary course of 
nature, that so he may reveal his presence and 
power and authority. He established and 
maintains it ; and it is absurd to suppose that 
he shuts himself out from it, or can not show 
his presence in it, so as to stamp his authority 
on the instructions which men need and which 
he gives them. 

Man himself, within the narrow limits of his 
power, is a supernatural being. He can and 
often does vary the course of nature, or turn it 
to the purposes which he chooses. He makes 
a stream of water saw and grind, spin and 
weave, and do many other things for his ad- 
vantage. By the application of heat to water 
he transforms it into steam and makes it pro- 
pel the ship on the wide ocean, and draw long 
and heavy trains of cars, freighted with all 
kinds of property and hundreds of people, over 
the land. In these and many other ways does 
man, as a supernatural being, make the laws 
or powers of nature do him service. 



. MIRACLES. 125 

And can not God as the great, the almighty 
supernatural being, reveal his power over the 
laws or powers of nature which he has estab- 
lished, and so make known his authority and 
his goodness to men ? To deny that he can, is 
practically to deny that God exists and gov- 
erns the world in righteousness and goodness. 

This argument, I think, must be conclusive 
to one who believes in the existence and gov- 
ernment of God. To one who denies that God 
exists and governs the world it can have no 
force. If human experience or human science 
is supposed to prove that there is no God, it 
may just as well be supposed to prove that 
there can be no such thing as a miracle. And 
one supposition will be just as reasonable as 
the other. But if reason demands that we be- 
lieve God exists, the creator and ruler of all 
things, it demands also that we believe he may 
work miracles to show men his power and 
glory. 

The truth is, that our experience is too limited 
in its range, too small in its extent, to furnish 
any proof against either of these facts, the ex- 



126 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

istence of God, or miracles. And it is notori- 
ously the world's experience, that, where the 
Bible is known, a very large part of the best 
and wisest men in the world have believed 
them both. 

3. The miracles of the Bible are insep- 
arable AND ESSENTIAL PARTS OF ITS HISTORY 

and teachings. Those relating to Jesus 
Christ, and those which are said to have been 
wrought by him, are inseparable and essential 
parts of his history. Suppose them to be 
taken away, and you suppose him to be dis- 
honest, false, a pretender and a cheat, not a 
teacher of truth, nor a doer of righteousness. 
Or you suppose that his history, as it comes to 
us, is so overloaded with fables that no one 
can tell what in it is truth. The appeal is 
constantly made to them as proof that he 
taught with the authority of God. 

So he himself referred to them. "If I do 
not the works of my Father, believe me not. 
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe 
the works ; that ye may know and believe that 
the Father is in me, and I in him." " If I had 



MIRACLES. 127 

not done among them the works which no 
other man did, they had not had sin ; but now 
have they both seen and hated both me and 
my Father." Can any one reasonably doubt 
that he refers here to his miracles ? In his 
reply to the messengers of John the Baptist, 
he refers to them expressly. He performed 
miraculous cures before them, and said, " Go 
your way, and tell John what things ye have 
seen and heard ; how that the blind see, the 
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf 
hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gos- 
pel is preached." 

Accordingly, in the words at the head of the 
chapter, Nicodemus avows himself convinced 
that Jesus was a teacher come from God by 
the miracles which he wrought ; " for no 
man can do these miracles that thou doest, 
except God be with him." And the apostles, 
when their Lord was no longer with them, 
preached to the unbelieving Jews concerning 
Jesus of Nazareth : " A man approved of God 
among you by miracles and signs and wonders, 
whicK God did by him in the midst of you, as 



128 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

ye yourselves also know." And in the same 
way of preaching, Peter declared that God had 
raised him from the dead after he was crucified. 

Thus the miracles appear in the Bible as an 
essential part of the history, and as supporting 
the teachings, of Christ and the apostles. They 
certify God's authority in the Great Teacher, 
and in his disciples as commissioned by him. 
Take them away, and you make the Bible his- 
tory nothing but legendary stories. You de- 
prive all that Christ and the apostles said of 
divine authority ; and much of it you deprive 
of any respect as a statement of facts. They 
constantly affirm that they speak as authorized 
by God, and that the miracles are proof of 
their commission so to speak. They were 
strangely deluded men, or they were impos- 
tors ; or the miracles were truly signs of God's 
presence and authority with them. 

4. We come, therefore, to consider next 
the proof of the miracles. They are 
proved by all the evidence we have that the 
gospel history is not a fiction, but is true. 

(1.) The first evidence to my mind'is in 



MIRACLES. 129 

the appearance of the gospel narratives, as they 
come to us. There are four separate ac- 
counts of the life, works, teachings, death and 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are so un- 
like as to show that they were written by dif- 
ferent men, and that there was no careful 
agreement between them to avoid every appar- 
ent discrepancy. Each one omits some things 
which are contained in some of the others. 
And they relate the same things in different 
aspects, as different writers would naturally do. 
But all of them have the open face of honesty 
and truth in what they say. When you look 
into them you see the frankness, simplicity, 
straightforwardness, sometimes the minuteness, 
always the unsuspicious manner, of writers who 
are making a true statement of facts. This 
appearance is a strong proof of honesty and 
truth in a single writer. But when we have 
four distinct narratives, all bearing the same 
plain marks of truth, the proof is multiplied. 
It is more than four times as great, because 
there is such perfect agreement in the marks 
of honesty, and not exact agreement in the 
9 



I30 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

manner of the narrative, or the way in which 
the facts are given. This argument, that the 
Bible is itself the best proof of its own truth, is 
so great as to make the general circulation of 
the Bible the most effectual security against 
skepticism. Men who are accustomed to read 
the Bible are not generally apt to deny that 
God speaks to us in it. 

(2.) A second proof of the miracles of the 
New Testament is the one very strongly set 
forth by Paley : the testimony of the apostles 
and others, given, at the peril of their lives, 
against every earthly and selfish reason for 
it. The miracles were of such a nature that 
the eye-witnesses of them could not possibly be 
deceived. The healing of the sick by a word, 
the giving of sight to the blind, hearing to 
the deaf, speech to the dumb, and the bringing 
of the dead to life again, and all these openly, 
before many persons, are such manifestly 
mighty works, above the course of nature and 
above the power of man, that eye-witnesses 
could not be deceived concerning them. They 
had no motive of advantage to themselves in 



MIRACLES. 131 

this world for giving the testimony they did. 
They exposed themselves to persecution, and 
many of them suffered death in cruel forms, be- 
cause they declared that Jesus Christ wrought 
those miracles, and was raised from the dead 
by the power of God. If their testimony was 
true, and they were authorized and sustained 
by God in giving it, they had good reason for 
their course of action. But otherwise their 
conduct was without reason. 

(3.) Another argument for the miracles is 
found in the success which atteitded the preach- 
ing of the apostles. They had no power to 
offer worldly advantages to those who should 
believe them. They were themselves objects 
of persecution, despised, hated, imprisoned, 
tortured and put to death. And those who 
believed their declarations concerning Jesus 
Christ were sure to suffer like evils. Yet 
many did believe and become so exposed. 
How was this ? How could it be if the testi- 
mony they gave had not been the truth ? 

I conclude, therefore, that their testimony 



132 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

was the truth, that the miracles of the Bible 
are not fables, but wonderful works of God. 

5. One common objection to the reality 
of miracles must be noticed. It is that there 
have been a great many pretended miracles, and 
a great many wonderful things which we can 
not explain, though we do not call them mira- 
cles. This is certainly true. But pretended 
miracles are no proof that none are real. On 
the contrary, they make it probable that some 
real miracles have been performed. If there 
never had been any miracles, it is not very 
probable that any would have been pretended. 
Certainly, false miracles are not proof that 
none are true, any more than false coin is 
proof that none is genuine. 

And as to the many wonderful things which 
we can not explain in the facts of mesmerism, 
and other facts more or less like them, we have 
no reason to ascribe them to the direct action 
of God as evidence of his giving a revelation 
to the world. They do not appear to come 
from him for that purpose. They are not 
shown us as the works of a great teacher from 



. MIRACLES. 133 

God, like Jesus Christ, offering them for proof 
of his commission. So we may set them aside 
for examination, according to our ability and 
opportunity, as subjects of curious inquiry. 
And we should believe concerning them what 
we find reason to believe. 

6. A qualifying remark should be made 
here on the miracles as evidences for Chris- 
tianity. They do not stand alone, either in fact 
or according to God's design. They may be 
considered essential evidences. I think they 
were essential in the beginning of the Christian 
religion. But then and now they are most im- 
portant as confirming other evidences that we 
have a revelation from God, and especially as 
confirming the evidences in the life and the 
character and the teachings of him who came 
from God. 

If the miracles of our Lord and of his disci- 
ples stood by themselves, they would have no 
meaning. And it is their real meaning which 
gives them their great importance. 

7. What then is the real meaning of the 
miracles of Christ and his apostles ? What 



134 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

was the design of them ? What do they 
show ? 

They show that God was with Jesus Christ, 
that his claim to be the Son of God was right, 
and that he spoke and acted with the authority 
of God. This he claimed for them when he 
said, " If I do not the works of my Father, be- 
lieve me not. But if I do, though ye believe 
not me, believe the works ; that ye may know 
and believe that the Father is in me and I in 
him." On this account he declares that the 
Jews were condemned for their unbelief. "If 
I had not done. among them the works which 
none other man did, they had not had sin ; but 
now have they both seen and hated both me 
and my Father." 

The miracles of Christ, then, show that, in 
speaking to men, he had such authority and 
knowledge and power as belong only to God. 

And the miracles of the disciples show that 
they acted with the authority which Christ gave 
them from God, They wrought miracles in 
the name of Christ, referring to him for the 
source of their power, and the authority of 



, MIRACLES. 135 

their teachings. This is so constantly the fact 
that there seems to be no doubt of their hav- 
ing ascribed all their miraculous power to him 
as its author. He spoke with the authority of 
God, testified by miracles. They spoke as 
they received commission from him, testified 
by miracles. 

The miracles proved the inspiration of those 
who worked them. They could not have 
known that they were able to work miracles 
if they had not been inspired of God with the 
knowledge. Their attempting it with success 
shows that they had knowledge of the power 
in them, as well as that they had the power. 

If they had not been divinely inspired or 
impelled, they would not have made the at- 
tempt. Or, if they had made the attempt, not 
so moved, they would have failed. But God 
made his power and authority known in the 
gift of miracles for the conviction of the world, 
and to leave men without excuse if they do not 
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

All the practical power of Christianity de- 
pends on our belief. Our belief is supported 



I36 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

by evidence. And a very material part of the 
evidence is in the miracles, the wonderful works 
of God, showing his presence and authority 
with those whom he sent to speak for him, 
and leading men to love and obey him, that 
they may be saved from sin and death. 

Those are fearfully solemn words of our 
Saviour : " If I had not come and spoken unto 
them, they had not had sin ; but now they 
have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth 
me hateth my Father also. If I had not done 
among them the works which none other man 
did they had not had sin ; but now have they 
both seen and hated both me and my Father. 
. . . That the word might be fulfilled that is 
written in their law : They hated me without a 
cause." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE AUTHORITY CLAIMED AND EXERCISED 
BY CHRIST. 

" For he taught them as one having authority." — Matt. vii. 29. 

£||f HIS brief comment follows that wonderful 
discourse commonly called the Sermon 
on the Mount. " When Jesus had ended 
these sayings, the people were astonished 
at his teachings : for he taught them as one 
having authority, and not as the scribes." 

On a certain occasion men were sent to 
make him a prisoner ; but they returned with- 
out him, and showed to those who sent them 
that he had a power in his words such as no 
other man ever had. "Why have ye not 
brought him ? " said the chief priests and 
Pharisees. " Never man spake like this man," 
replied the officers. That was reason enough. 
This reply to men who were baffled in their 

137 



I38 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

designs of violence by his words of power 
shows that Jesus could defend himself as no 
other man ever could. His* enemies could not 
resist the wisdom and authority with which he 
spoke. 

In reading the gospel histories we can not 
fail to notice that Jesus Christ often claimed 
and exercised very wonderful power. In this 
respect he took for himself a position above all 
men living then, and indeed above all who 
ever lived in the world. The statements con- 
cerning this matter are so very singular and 
wonderful as to deserve careful attention. It 
seems to me that they may reasonably have 
much weight in deciding the question, whether 
he gave us a revelation from God. 

We must assume that he was an honest and 
good man. Those who deny a special revela- 
tion by him, and deny even the possibility of 
miracles, generally admit this. He was, they 
acknowledge, a man of superior wisdom and 
goodness. Taking this admission, and taking 
the narratives as we have them, what are we 
to conclude from the statements given us of 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. 1 39 

his claiming and exercising an authority far 
above that which naturally belongs to any 
man ? Does the authority with which he 
spoke and acted show, as Nicodemus said of 
his miracles, that God was with him ? 

To get a proper answer to these questions, 
we must look at some of the instances of au- 
thority claimed and exercised by him. It ap- 
pears chiefly in his teachings ; yet sometimes 
it is no less to be seen in his actions. 

He did not exercise authority by the com- 
mand of armies, nor by the use of civil power, 
as earthly rulers do. He said, " My kingdom 
is not of this world ; " claiming to be a king, 
but not to reign as an earthly king. 

He taught with singular authority. This 
appears generally in the statements made of 
what he said, and the manner in which he 
said it. Take the first and longest of his talks 
on record, the Sermon on the Mount. Did 
any other man ever begin to speak with such 
an assumption of a perfect right to decide all 
questions of morals and of wisdom as he does 
in the Beatitudes ? He assumes to speak in 



I40 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the name of God, and as if there could be no 
doubt of his right so to speak. " Blessed are 
the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven." What a strange assertion for any 
man ! How directly in contrast with the prac- 
tical thoughts and plans and aims of men. 
But how positively it is spoken, as if the king- 
dom of heaven were his own. And so it was, 
according to his usual way of speaking. He 
was a king, though in so lowly a condition that 
he had not where to lay his head. He pre- 
tended to no authority in the state ; but in re- 
lation to truth and right, to God and the soul, 
he spoke as king of a higher kingdom than 
any on the earth. The highest themes which 
men have ever studied, he treated, not only as 
if they were familiar to his knowledge, but as 
if they were subject to his word and will. 

The conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount 
is an assumption of the most unlimited power 
and authority. It is nothing less than a claim 
to be the final Judge. " Not every one that 
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into 
the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. I4I 

will of my Father which is in heaven. Many 
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have 
we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy 
name cast out devils, and in thy name done 
many wonderful works ? And then will I pro- 
fess unto them, I never knew you ; depart 
from me, ye that work iniquity." 

What is this less than claiming to be the 
final Judge ? And that most impressive con- 
trast, which makes the direct application of the 
discourse, is in the same high tone. " There- 
fore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise 
man. . . . And every one that heareth these 
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be 
likened to a foolish man." The intervening 
parts of the sermon are also like the beginning 
and the end, in the tone of authority. 

So it is whenever you find him acting the 
part of a teacher. Nicodemus, an honorable 
ruler of the Jews, went to Jesus by night, in 
order to have some private conversation with 
him, and acknowledged him as a teacher whom 
God had sent, from the proof his miracles gave. 



142 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Jesus at once spoke to the ruler as if God was 
indeed with him, and as if no one could doubt 
the fact. He claimed all that Nicodemus al- 
lowed, if not more. 

Look then at the terms of discipleship which 
he prescribes. One who would be a disciple 
of this poor man, hated by the chiefs of the 
Jewish people, must forsake all his friends, 
even his father and mother, his brother and 
sister, his wife and children, — yes, his own 
life also. Nothing could be withholden. And 
the language in which he enforced this claim 
is that of one who had the authority of God. 
" For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and 
of my words, of him shall the Son of man be 
ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, 
and in his Father's and of the holy angels. " 
Did ever any other person, offering himself as 
a teacher and a leader, assume such authority 
over all men ? He speaks as if the whole 
world were rightfully now subject to him, and 
would finally be brought before him for judg- 
ment. 

In the language of severity which our Lord 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. I43 

sometimes uses there is a terrible authority. 
So did he condemn those places in which he 
had often wrought miracles and spoken words 
of truth with little or no effect upon the people. 
" Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! Woe unto thee, 
Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works had been 
done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in 
you, they had a great while ago repented, sit- 
ting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be 
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judg- 
ment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, 
which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust 
down to hell. ,, 

Notice too with what severity he condemned 
the Pharisees, scribes, and lawyers, certainly 
the most respectable people of the time and 
country in which he lived. To one of them in 
his own house, where Jesus, an invited guest, 
had sat down to eat without washing, and the 
Pharisee wondered at his conduct, he said, 
" Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside 
of the cup and the platter ; but your inward 
part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye 
fools, did not he that made that which is with- 



144 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

out make that which is within also ? But 
rather give alms of such things as ye have, and 
behold all things are clean unto you. . . . 
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
crites ! for ye are as graves which appear not, 
and the men that walk over them are not aware 
of them." 

One of the lawyers objected that he was re- 
proaching them. And he said, "Woe unto 
you also, ye lawyers ! for ye lade men with 
burdens grievous to be borne, and ye your- 
selves touch not the burdens with one of your 
fingers." And so he goes on with language 
unparalleled. He told them that the blood of 
good men slain in all time past would be re- 
quired of that generation, from the blood of 
Abel to the blood of Zacharias. He thus told 
them that they were more wicked than any 
generation before them. "Woe unto you, 
lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key of 
knowledge ; ye entered not in yourselves, and 
them that were entering in ye hindered." 
Would any wise and good man, if not author- 
ized by God, dare to speak as he did ? 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. I45 

In some of his parables Jesus seems to claim 
supreme authority. Thus by the parable of 
the lost sheep, and the like one of the lost 
piece of silver, he teaches that there is peculiar 
joy in heaven over one repenting sinner. In 
the representation he makes of the wise and 
foolish virgins, he warns men as if the omnis- 
cient Judge were speaking by him. He, their 
Lord, will so surprise them as the foolish vir- 
gins were surprised, if they be not on their 
guard. " Watch, therefore, for ye know neither 
the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man 
cometh." So likewise in the parable of the tal- 
ents he sets forth the principles of sovereignty 
and justice by which the kingdom of heaven, 
the kingdom which he was setting up in the 
earth, is conducted. And when he paints the 
picture of the poor, diseased beggar, Lazarus, 
at the rich man's door, with dogs for his com- 
panions and comforters, as they together eat 
the crumbs that fall from the table of wealth 
and luxury ; and then as he shows us Lazarus 
reclining on the bosom of Abraham in heaven, 
and the rich man in the torment of hell calling 
10 



I46 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

for a drop of water to cool his tongue, but de- 
nied that relief, refused also the favor of hav- 
ing Lazarus sent to warn his five brothers, that 
they may not come into that place of torment ; 
— is there not a terrible authority assumed in 
such a parable ? 

The commands given by Jesus are those of 
one who had the power of God. By the word 
of command he wrought his stupendous mira- 
cles. To the wind and the sea, when they 
threatened to overwhelm the ship in which he 
had been quietly sleeping, and filled his disci- 
ples with terror, he commanded, " Peace, be 
still. And immediately there was a great 
calm." No wonder that those who saw and 
felt his power said one to another, "What 
manner of man is this, that even the wind and 
the sea obey him ? " 

He commanded the evil spirits, and they 
departed from those afflicted by them. To his 
friend, who had been dead four days, he said, 
" Lazarus, come forth ; " and he came forth 
from the tomb. This power of his word in 
working miracles was so apparent that a 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. 147 

Roman centurion compared it to his own au- 
thority over the soldiers under him. 

Not unlike this was the authority which he 
assumed in explaining and applying the law of 
God. Corruptions of God's law in the Old Tes- 
tament had come into repute among the Jews. 
Its high tone had been let down, its strength 
had been weakened. Thus, while the ten com- 
mandments were still acknowledged in pro- 
fession by the Jewish people, their moral power 
was little felt. But he declared them anew, 
condemned the popular glosses put upon them 
to blunt their sharp edge, and showed their 
full force in their strict spiritual sense. His 
language is that of one claiming to speak as 
the divine Lawgiver. 

" Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou 
shalt not kill. But I say unto you, That who- 
soever is angry with his brother without a 
cause shall be in danger of the judgment. . . . 
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 
time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I 
say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a 
woman to lust after her hath committed adul- 



I48 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

tery with her already in his heart. Ye have 
heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I 
say unto you, Love your enemies.'' 

His words are so familiar that they need not 
be further repeated. It seems by them that 
he claimed to speak with an authority equal to 
that which first gave the law. And so he did 
with regard to the Sabbath. When some 
Pharisees complained that his disciples did un- 
lawful acts on the Sabbath, and so profaned it, 
he told them that the priests did service in the 
temple, and were not blamed, adding, " But I 
say unto you, that in this place is one greater 
than the temple ; " and a little after, " For the 
Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." 

In like manner he claimed the right to 
forgive sins. He did this in such a way as 
to show so plainly what he meant that he 
could not be misunderstood. The friends of a 
man sick with palsy brought him to be healed. 
But they could not get near to Jesus for the 
crowd around him. So they went up on the 
flat roof of the house where he was, broke 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. 1 49 

away the cqvering, and let down the sick man 
before him. " When Jesus saw their faith, he 
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins 
be forgiven thee/' It was perfectly natural 
that those who did not believe in him should 
charge him with blasphemy, as they did, say- 
ing, " Who can forgive sins but God only ? " 
They had a right to ask this question. Sin is 
an offense against God, a transgression of his 
law ; and none but he can forgive it. But he 
replied to their complaint by asking them, 
" Which is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven 
thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and 
walk" ? Both were alike easy to him, and 
within his right, as he showed them. That 
they might know, and that all men afterward 
might know that the Son of man had power on 
earth to forgive sins, he said to the sick man, 
" Arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way unto 
thine house." And he did so. Well might 
the spectators be amazed, as they were, and 
give glory to God, saying, " We never saw it 
on this fashion." They had the proof that 



I50 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

God was with him, and that he made no false 
claim to the right of forgiving sin. 

He also did other things implying, like the 
forgiveness of sins, the authority of God. He 
promised his disciples that he would answer 
their prayers. " Whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name, that will I do, that the Father may 
be glorified in the Son." 

Again he said, " Peace I leave with you ; 
my peace I give unto you." "In the world 
ye shall have tribulation ; in me ye shall have 
peace." 

He tells them to believe in him, as they be- 
lieve in God. " Ye believe in God, believe also 
in me." He likewise claims to be one with 
the Father. " He that hath seen me hath seen 
the Father. Believe me that I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me." On a different 
occasion he said, " He that believeth on me, 
believeth not on me (that is, on me only), but 
on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, 
seeth him that sent me." Once he says ex- 
pressly what he # implies in many instances, " I 
and my Father are one." Jno. x. 30. With- 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. 1 5 I 

• 

out pretending here to say exactly what he 
means by this oneness with the Father, I refer 
to it as showing the high authority which Jesus 
claims for himself. . 

And this claim has another illustration in 
what he says of the Spirit, the Comforter. 
"When the Comforter is come, whom I will 
send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit 
of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he 
shall testify of me." Jno. xv. 26. "If I go 
not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
you ; but if I depart I will send him unto you." 
Jno. xvi. 7. " He shall glorify me ; for he shall 
receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. 
All things that the Father hath are mine ; 
therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and 
shall show it unto you." Jno. xvi. 14, 15. 

Who is this that so speaks of himself? We 
may not be able to explain exactly, or even to 
see clearly, all that he means by his words. But 
certainly he means to claim that there is entire 
agreement between him and the Father ; that 
he does that which the Father approves, the 
work which the Father has given him to do, 



152 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

and no other. Certainly he means to declare 
that he speaks the will of God, with the appro- 
bation and authority of God. 

There is one other exalted claim that he 
makes, which I have reserved to speak of last, 
though indeed it has already been mentioned. 
He represents himself to be the final 
Judge of the world. He does this more 
than once. But there is one instance in which 
it is so clearly marked, the claim is so strongly 
made, and so undeniable, that I will here 
specially refer to it alone. It is in the well- 
known representation of the judgment, the 
most extended in the Bible, contained in the 
twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. There . the 
Son of man is the Judge. " He shall come in 
his glory, and all the holy angels with him ; 
and he shall sit on the throne of his glory. 
And before him shall be gathered all nations ; 
and he shall separate them as a shepherd divid- 
eth his sheep from the goats." He is the King 
who will say to one class, " Come, ye blessed," 
and to another, " Depart, ye cursed." Thus 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. 1 53 

does Jesus Christ claim to be the final Judge 
of the world. 

I have now set before you some instances 
of the authority claimed and exercised by him 
whom we call our Lord Jesus Christ, while he 
was on earth, according to the accounts given 
us in the four gospel histories. I have only 
selected here and there some examples. I 
could not do more. I could not present the 
subject in its fullness, as it will appear to one 
who looks into the New Testament for all 
there is relating to it. But instances have 
been mentioned of his claiming high authority 
in the Sermon on the Mount, in his conditions 
of discipleship, in his denunciations of wicked 
men respectable in the world, in his commands 
of miraculous power, and of moral obligation 
equaling the law of God, in his forgiveness of 
sins, in his promise of the Spirit, who would 
show the truth concerning him more clearly 
than it had been seen, in his claim to be one 
with the Father, and in his assurance that he 
will be the final Judge of all. 

And what are we to learn from this frequent 



154 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

claim and exercise of authority, higher than 
the greatest of men besides Jesus Christ ever 
thought of possessing ? Does it show that he 
has given us a revelation from God ? Does it 
show that he truly spoke with the authority of 
God ? If the four Gospels are fictions, it does 
not. If they are an accumulation of fabulous 
stories overlying the true history of an hon- 
est, wise, good man, who was only a man in 
advance of his own age, then God does not 
speak to us by Jesus Christ any more truly 
than by other honest, wise, good men. 

But if all the representations of a divine au- 
thority in Jesus of Nazareth, and of his own 
divine assurance, are fabulous, what is left of 
him ? What knowledge have we concerning 
him ? Especially must we ask, How can he 
have been an honest, wise, good man, most 
eminent as a teacher of truth and doer of good ? 

And then how has it come to pass that 
Christianity has existed in the world, and been 
the greatest power for good among men ? 
Take away from Jesus all that men have sup- 
posed to be divine in him, divine character, 



AUTHORITY CLAIMED BY CHRIST. 1 55 

divine authority, divine revelation, and he will 
be shorn at once of his power. Do, then, fables 
and false pretensions, when they are reported, 
so live and work righteousness among all na- 
tions ? And does the true history lose all its 
power so soon as the false and fabulous is re- 
moved from it ? Besides, his claims of divine 
authority enter into his teachings generally. It 
is impossible to separate them from the sub- 
stance of his instructions. They are so inter- 
woven as to belong to the very texture of all 
that is recorded of his words. 

But if the gospel history be substantially 
true, God has spoken to us by Jesus Christ his 
Son. And then the message of salvation has 
come to us by him. To us sinners he has 
spoken in tones of kindness, in words of love 
and power, the like of which were never spoken 
to men by any other. And we ought to give 
the most earnest heed to the things which he 
has spoken. For how shall we escape if we 
neglect so great salvation ? 

Whither shall we go for hope if we turn 
away from Jesus Christ ? In whom can we 



156 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

trust if we do not receive him ? And how can 
we meet him as our Judge, whom we do not 
acknowledge and love as our Saviour ? 

There is a judgment before us ; and Jesus 
Christ is to be our Judge. How can we be 
prepared to stand before him, if we do not re- 
ceive him as our Redeemer and our Lord ? 

17 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 
"Truly this man was the Son of God." — Mark xv. 39. 



m 



ESUS CHRIST, as he is presented to us 
in the New Testament, is the best evi- 
jjB dence of Christianity. If men can be 
brought to look at him, with all there is 
about him like other men, showing that he is 
one with them, and with all there is in him un- 
like other men, showing that he is incompara- 
bly superior to them, they will, it seems to me, 
find the most conclusive proof that he was the 
Son of God in a higher sense than any other 
man ; that he gave us a revelation of God's will, 
and that we ought to believe in him. It is from 
this belief that I have made Jesus Christ, with 
his works and his teachings, my subject sev- 
eral times in these chapters on the evidences 
of Christianity. He who gives the name to 

i57 



158 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

our religion furnishes the most prominent and 
obvious proof of its divine character and au- 
thority. I shall therefore ask your attention 
further to some things in relation to him. And 
I propose now the consideration of his suf- 4 
ferings and death, as going to prove the 
truth and divine character of the religion he 
gives us. 

The accounts which we have in the gospel 
histories of Christ's sufferings and death are 
such as we can not reasonably believe to be 
the inventions of fiction, foisted into the true 
story of his life ; and they are such as go far to 
prove that he was truly the Son of God, as no 
other man ever was. Let us look at some im- 
portant things in relation to the matter, and 
see if it is not so. 

1. He foretold his death in various ways 
and many times. From the time when he 
said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be 
lifted up," to the time, just before he was be- 
trayed, when he instituted the Supper in re- 
membrance of his death, he was frequently 



' SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 1 59 

referring to the fact that he was to die. Some- 
times he gave only brief hints of it. Thus he 
said, after Mary had anointed his feet with 
precious ointment, "Against the day of my 
burying hath she kept this." Sometimes he 
signified the same thing in forms of expression 
that were very mysterious to those who heard 
him, as in those passages where he speaks of 
eating his flesh and drinking his blood, as the 
only way to eternal life. 

He declared also in repeated instances that 
he was going to suffer and die. " Therefore 
doth my Father love me, because I lay down 
my life that I might take it again. No man 
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. 
I have power to lay it down, and I have power 
to take it again." Here is a plain declaration 
beforehand of his death, of its being voluntary 
on his part, and also of his resurrection. As 
the time for him to suffer and die drew near, 
he spoke of it to his disciples more frequently 
and directly. " From that time forth began 
Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he 
must go up to Jerusalem, and suffer many 



l6o CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

things of the elders and chief priests and 
scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the 
third day." They were so fully persuaded that 
he was going to set up a kingdom that they 
would not at first understand his plain words. 
Peter said, " Be it far from thee." But he was 
rebuked most severely. " Get thee behind me, 
Satan. Thou art an offense unto me. Thou 
savorest not the things that be of God, but the 
things that be of men." 

Perhaps the most impressive of all his pre- 
dictions of his death was by the institution of 
the memorial supper, to be observed in remem- 
brance of it. There is nothing more solemn 
in all the religious observances of men than 
this ordinance of the Christian church. And 
this most solemn observance is, in every in- 
stance, a memorial which he appointed, while 
yet living, to be kept for ever in remembrance 
of his death. 

All his references to his sufferings and death 
show that they entered into the plan of his life. 
They belonged to the very purpose for which 
he lived. It was not merely incidental to his 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. l6l 

life that he should suffer and die, as it is to the 
life of all men, but it was essential, so that his 
life would not have accomplished its object if 
he had not submitted himself to the most ex- 
traordinary sufferings and death. He must 
lay down his life for the sheep. And he must 
be lifted up from the earth, that he might draw 
men to him. 

2. The agony of Gethsemane is one of 
the great mysteries in the life of Christ. What 
was it ? And what caused it ? The plans of 
his enemies for getting him into their hands, 
so that they might destroy him, were becoming 
matured. The traitor had gone to confer with 
them and carry out the part of the malicious 
work to which he had sold himself. Jesus 
knew all about it. He saw fully what was 
going to be done. He was free to go where 
he pleased, and do what he pleased. There 
was nothing to cause bodily suffering. Plainly, 
that mysterious anguish was not bodily suffer- 
ing, but agony of mind. It could not be any- 
thing else. And why was there such intense 



1 62 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

agony of mind ? What caused such severe 
and overpowering distress ? 

Was it from fear of the cross ? This we 
can not suppose. Other men have had before 
them the prospect of death in forms as terrible, 
and have not been so overcome. If he had 
been a good man ignorant of what was before 
him, he could not have suffered so from dread. 
If he had been only a good man knowing the 
plots and foreseeing the success of his enemies, 
he would not have been so overcome with 
horror at the prospect, unless he had been 
more deficient in fortitude, and so weaker than 
many a soldier and many a philosopher and 
many of his own disciples. What then was 
the cause? 

Is the whole story of this extreme agony a 
fiction ? If so, why was it invented ? To what 
purpose was it, according to any human calcu- 
lation ? Would any man, seeking to exalt the 
character and work of a leader and teacher 
whom he admired, of a hero whom he desired 
to honor, have told of such agony if it was not 
real ? Surely, as a fiction, it is a more un- 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 1 63 

natural and improbable thing than ever was 
invented. If such a fiction had been invented, 
it never could have been believed as a fact. 

And taking it for a fact, it is a great mys- 
tery, to be received as part of Christ's work in 
revealing God's truth and love, and providing 
salvation for sinful men. The very strange- 
ness of the account given us concerning the 
agony of Gethsemane argues strongly for its 
truth, because no fiction-maker could imagine 
and report such things. 

There is some explanation of the mystery 
when we come to the belief that Jesus suffered 
for the sins of men ; but I can not imagine 
any explanation of the account as a fiction or 
an interpolation. 

3. His betrayal by one of the twelve, his 
chosen disciples, is a very noticeable fact in 
relation to his sufferings and death. It is not 
a thing without parallel for a good man to be 
deceived and betrayed by one whom he has 
trusted and benefited as a friend. This is one 
of the forms of depravity with which the world 
is too familiar. But in the case of Jesus the 



164 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

betrayal was peculiar. According to the nar- 
rative there was no deception ; for the Master 
knew, from the first, the character of his false 
disciple. He chose and kept that disciple with 
the knowledge of his falsehood and his future 
treachery. " Have I not chosen you twelve, 
and one of you is a devil ? " And when the 
time came, the traitor executed the wickedness 
which beforehand his Master knew that he 
would do. Was there ever a fiction like it ? 

4. The condemnation of Christ was in a 
manner so peculiar as to deserve special notice. 
He was a Jew. By descent, and by the coun- 
try in which he was born and lived, he be- 
longed to that peculiar people. And in all his 
life he did not go much beyond them with his 
wonderful works and his words of wisdom. 
He did indeed heal the daughter of a Syro- 
phoenician woman. She in her distress be- 
sought him with earnest faith and humility, 
accepting even the appellation of " a dog," fre- 
quently applied to all who were not of the 
chosen nation. She begged only for such 
favor as men allow the dogs, which eat the 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 1 65 

crumbs falling from their master's table. And 
he healed the servant of a Roman centurion 
entreating with like wonderful faith the healing 
power of Jesus, who could command disease as 
perfectly as he himself could command a sol- 
dier. 

But his ministry was among the Jews. His 
disciples were of the Jews. And there was 
little appearance during his lifetime that his 
influence was extending beyond that people. 
His enemies, too, were of the Jews. He ex- 
posed the corruptions of their priests and 
learned, influential characters. They were dis- 
turbed by his condemnation of their wicked- 
ness, and by his proofs that God was with 
him. Therefore they determined to destroy 
him. But the Jews were a subject people, and 
had not power to put a man to death. They 
could arraign him, according to their law, and 
declare him worthy of death ; but they could 
not execute their sentence of condemnation. 
For this they must procure the action of the 
Roman governor. They had condemned Jesus 
for blasphemy, according to their law, though 



l66 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

without proof of the crime, and against the 
proof of his perfect faithfulness to God. He a 
blasphemer ! He taught men to worship God 
in spirit and in truth. But he claimed to be 
the Son of God. Therefore the unbelieving 
Jews declared him to be a blasphemer. Yet 
they could not put him to death on that charge ; 
for the Roman governor only could issue the 
sentence of death, and that crime against the 
Jewish law was nothing to him. Therefore 
another charge was brought against him before 
Pilate. He had professed to set up a kingdom. 
Not by human might nor any worldly power, 
not with armies nor political schemes, but as a 
teacher of truth and righteousness, with the 
laying down of his own life, he established the 
kingdom of God among men ; and he avowed 
himself its king. His enemies, turning his 
words from their true meaning, accused him 
of making himself a king contrary to the Ro- 
man authority. Pilate was satisfied that the 
accusation had no. grounds of truth; for he 
said that he found nothing against him. But 
their importunity was so urgent, and he was so 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 167 

weak, that he condemned Jesus to be crucified. 
Thus he suffered by a Roman method of pun- 
ishment, against the declared judgment of the 
Roman governor, according to the demand of 
Jewish enemies, whose special complaint was 
that he claimed to be the Son of God. It 
was a strange combination of circumstances by 
which he was brought to such a death. 

5. His execution on the cross deserves 
notice. It was a manner of death most im- 
pressive and affecting. None could be more 
adapted to attract the attention of the world in 
all time. But if the Jews had been an inde- 
pendent nation, Jesus would not have been 
crucified. He was put to death on the cross, 
after the manner of the Romans, by Roman 
authority, and contrary to Roman justice. The 
officers of that world-wide empire were the 
actors in the crucifixion of him who came and 
suffered to procure a world-wide salvation for 
men, if he was the Son of God, as he claimed 
to be. And if he was not the Son of God, he 
was only one of the many impostors who have 
deceived the world. Then Pilate was not justi- 



1 68 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

fied in his execution ; but he deserved to die, 
because he was, as the Jews declared, a de- 
ceiver and blasphemer. 

Was this the fact ? Was the malicious ac- 
cusation of his enemies true ? 

There were, according to the narratives, cir- 
cumstances marking his death as very wonder- 
ful. There was darkness over the land for 
three hours ; then an earthquake and a rend- 
ing of the rocks ; and the veil of the temple, 
which hid the most holy place from the sight 
of all worshipers, was torn from top to bottom. 

" All nature shakes, 
And earth's strong pillars bend, 
The temple's veil in sunder breaks, 
The solid marbles rend." 

Could such events have been reported at the 
time, if they had not occurred ? Or could 
they have been pretended afterward, if they 
were not known at the time as facts ? 

It was when he expired on the cross, with 
such attending circumstances, that the centu- 
rion uttered the words, " Truly this was the 
Son of God." 



SUFFERINGS. AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 1 69 

6. In the near approach of death Jesus did 

NOT EXPRESS THE JOYFUL TRIUMPH which Oth- 
ers often have expressed. Compare him in 
this respect with many of his disciples, and if 
we are to regard him simply as a good man 
dying in the course of duty by the power of 
wicked men, he does not exhibit so much forti- 
tude or divine support as they do. Take Paul 
for an example. Hear his words of exultation 
as he saw death approaching. "I am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my de- 
parture is at hand. I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me 
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and 
not to me only, but unto all them also that 
love his appearing. ,, In him whom Paul re- 
joiced to acknowledge as his Lord we find 
nothing of this kind. We find only uncom- 
plaining submission, entire resignation to suf- 
fering the most intense, and no expression of 
triumph. 

If we regard the agony of the garden as 



I70 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

caused by anticipation of the sufferings of the 
cross so soon to follow, we find the appearance 
of an overwhelmed and crushed spirit, of a 
sufferer so prostrated as to be only able to 
express submission and withhold complaint ; 
nothing more. " Not my will, but thine be 
done." Or if the agony of the garden is to be 
considered as apart from the suffering of the 
cross, a mental anguish by itself, it is then a 
mystery, and such an inexplicable story of 
suffering as no writer of fiction would ever 
have invented. 

What writer of fiction would not have made 
his hero triumphant in death ? Especially 
when that hero claimed to be more than a man ; 
to be the well beloved Son of God, the revealer 
of God to men, and when he told his disciples 
more than once that they must be ready to lay 
down their lives for his sake, — would not any 
writer of fiction, or any one who added fic- 
titious parts to the true history, have repre- 
sented him as dying in joyous and glorious 
triumph ? The early Christians were many of 
them so represented. And so have been those 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 171 

in later times. Why was not their master 
and leader ? Certainly, Christian writers would 
have so represented him, if they had invented 
the story of his death, or if they had added to 
the true history, according to their own natural 
wishes and imagination. 

Supposing that Jesus had been like any 
other man, only superior, greatly superior even, 
in wisdom and goodness, and supposing his 
followers, after he was put to death, wished to 
exalt him as highly as possible, and so they 
contrived additions to the plain facts of his 
life, that he might appear to be in very truth 
the Holy One of God, declaring the will of God, 
and showing to men how they might, by be- 
coming his followers, be sure of God's favor ; — 
would they have made the history of his suffer- 
ings and death such as it is ? We can imagine 
them saying he told them beforehand that he 
was going to suffer and to die. But is it pos- 
sible that they should have invented the agony 
of Gethsemane to honor their Master ? And 
is it possible that they would set him out be- 
fore the world as having foretold his own suf- 



172 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

fering and death, and as having warned them, 
too, that they should not fear suffering and 
death in his service ; and yet as being so over- 
whelmed, crushed, and utterly broken down in 
spirit, as he was in the garden, and afterward 
never gaining fortitude and strength enough 
to triumph, as his followers since have tri- 
umphed, in the worst forms of death ? 

The supposition is to me absurd. The his- 
tory of Christ's sufferings and death is true, or 
it never could have been given as it is. It is 
not such a history as any man's imagination 
would have conceived. And the strangest 
things in it are such as men would never have 
put into it, according to their own conceptions 
of what is proper, natural, and right. 

And if this history be true, the sufferings 
and death of Christ are really very wonderful. 
He was wonderful as the revealer of God to 
the world and the Saviour of sinners. And 
his sufferings and death were among the most 
wonderful things relating to him. We are in- 
terested in them because they were for us. 
He died for our sins. He suffered, the just for 



SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 1 73 

the unjust. God laid on him the iniquity of us 
all. He was wounded for our transgressions, 
he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon him; and with his 
stripes we are healed. 

In this view of the matter, the true view to 
the Christian, the sufferings and the death of 
Christ are of the highest practical importance. 
They take hold on the hearts of men. They 
are the strongest expression of God's love. 
God so loved the world that he gave his only- 
begotten Son. Christ so loved us that he laid 
down his life for us. This is the very essence 
of the gospel. It brings God's love into view, 
and makes him stand before us, so reaching 
out with his heart to us and taking hold on 
our hearts, that no other love can be compared 
with it. The sufferings and the death of 
Christ declare the love of God to sinful men. 
The agony of the garden and the torture of 
the cross are the voice of God's love, saying, 
" Look unto me, and be saved. Come unto me, 
and have life. Trust in me, and receive my 
love into your heart, and you shall be blessed 



174 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

for ever. Turn from your sins and receive par- 
don. Renounce them altogether and give me 
your heart, and I will give you my everlasting 
love." 

So speak to all the sufferings and the death 
of Christ, as the message goes forth to be re- 
ported and repeated, and sent abroad, and pro- 
claimed to the ends of the earth. Jesus Christ 
died for our sins ; therefore repent and believe 
in him, and you shall have everlasting life. 

And will you not listen ? Shall the message 
come in vain to your ears ? Is your heart so 
hardened against Christ's dying love, that for 
you he died in vain ? Then is there no more 
sacrifice for your sin, and no more hope, for 
your soul. 

" Sinners, turn ! why will ye die ? 
God, your Maker, asks you why. 
God, who did your being give, 
Made you with himself to live, — 
He the fatal cause demands, 
Asks the work of his own hands. 
Why, O thankless creatures ! why 
Will ye spurn his love and die ? 



SUFFERINGS. AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 1/5 

Sinners, turn ! why will ye die ? 
God, your Saviour, asks you why : 
He who his own life did give, 
That ye might for ever live. 
Will ye let him die in vain, 
Crucify your Lord again ? 
Why, O ransomed sinners, why 
Will ye slight his grace and die ? " 



CHAPTER X. 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 
"He is not here; he is risen, as he said." — Matt, xxviii. 6. 

SHE resurrection of Jesus Christ was de- 
clared in these words for the first time. 
l|R) Was the declaration true ? If so, it 
proves his divine mission and his divine 
authority. This miracle admitted, there can 
be no valid objection to others ; and the whole 
history of Jesus, of his teachings, miracles, suf- 
ferings, and death, must consequently be re- 
ceived. 

But, if he did not rise from the dead, Chris- 
tianity is false. Every other miracle can be 
denied or explained away as easily as this. It 
must be admitted, if Jesus did not rise from 
the dead, that his claims to be a divine teacher 
are without reason. Then his moral teachings 
176 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 1 77 

have no peculiar authority. They are like the 
words of any other moral teacher. 

The question, Did Jesus Christ rise from 
the dead ? is then of the highest importance as 
related to the evidences of Christianity. It 
should therefore receive a very careful con- 
sideration. Let us look at some things which 
may help us to decide what is true in relation 
to it. 

I. THE DISCIPLES DID NOT EXPECT THEIR 

Master would rise from the dead. This 
is very surprising to us in our common read- 
ing of the Bible ; and yet certainly it is the 
fact. He told them plainly, more than once, 
that he should be put to death, and should rise 
again. And it is marvelous that, while they 
had entire confidence in him, they should not 
have received his words in their plain mean- 
ing. Yet certainly they did not. They could 
not believe that he was to die. And of course 
they had no idea of his meaning when he 
spoke of rising from the dead. Once, when he 
had spoken of being put to death and raised 
again, Peter said, " Be it far from thee, Lord ; 



178 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

this shall not be unto thee." But he severely- 
rebuked Peter : " Get thee behind me, Satan ; 
thou art an offense unto me ; for thou savorest 
not the things that be of God, but those that 
be of men." On another occasion the disciples 
questioned " one with another what the rising 
from the dead should mean." They thought 
and inquired one of another about it, but did 
not understand it. 

Accordingly, they were taken by surprise 
when he rose, and were not prepared at once 
to receive the fact. The report which the 
woman brought who went first to the sepul- 
cher seemed wonderful and incredible. And 
not until they had themselves seen him, and 
he had talked with them, were they convinced 
of the truth. Two of them, as they were walk- 
ing to the village Emmaus, talking of his 
death, and of the story that he had risen, found 
a man walking with them, whom they did not 
know. He inquired what troubled them ; and 
they told him of the strange events of the 
three days before, and that certain women of 
their friends on that morning, being early at 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 1 79 

the sepulcher, told of not finding the body of 
Jesus, and of seeing angels, who said that he 
had risen from the dead. And though he 
talked to them with such wondrous wisdom, 
and so showed them what the Scriptures teach 
concerning Christ, that their hearts burned 
within them, they did not know him till at the 
table he blessed the bread they were going to 
eat, as he had of old. So utterly unexpectant 
were they of his rising from the dead. 

On the same evening, these two told of their 
strange meeting with their risen Lord to the 
other chosen friends, and Jesus came into the 
midst of them to the surprise of all present, 
and showed them his hands and his feet, and 
ate broiled fish and honey with them to con- 
vince them that he indeed was their Lord and 
Master. 

Still, one of the twelve, who was not present, 
was unconvinced by hearing of all these facts, 
and would not believe that he had risen until 
Jesus, a week after, showed himself to them 
again in like manner, and pointed Thomas to 
the wounds in his hands and feet and side. 



180 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

It is plain that the disciples did not expect 
Jesus would rise from the dead ; and accord- 
ing to the narrative they were greatly surprised 
by his rising. 

2. There were careful precautions against 
deception by the pretense of his having risen. 
Those who had procured his death remembered 
that he foretold his rising from the dead in 
three days, though his disciples, in their dis- 
appointment and distress at his death, seem to 
have forgotten it. They therefore obtained a 
guard, and made the sepulcher as secure as 
they could, by sealing the stone that was 
placed for a door, and by stationing sentinels to 
watch over it. They could do no more. And 
this surely seems enough to guard against any 
pretense of a resurrection, if it was not real. 
The disciples could not overpower the guard, 
steal the body, and then say that he had risen. 
All opportunity for such deception was cut off. 

3. Then look at the particular facts of 
his resurrection as they are given. Joseph of 
Arimathea and Nicodemus, both secretly dis- 
ciples of Jesus, having obtained possession of 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. l8l 

his body by leave of Pilate, took it down from 
the cross, wound it with spices in linen, ac- 
cording to the burial custom of the Jews, and 
placed it in a new tomb with a great stone for a 
door. The Jewish Sabbath, corresponding to 
our Saturday, passed, and early in the morning 
after there was an earthquake. An angel, or 
two angels, came and rolled away the stone. 
The soldiers on guard were overawed, trem- 
bled with terror, and could make no resistance. 
Certain women, disciples of Jesus, intending to 
embalm the body more fully, came early to 
the tomb, and were told by an angel, " He is 
not here, he is risen, as he said." They told 
what they saw and heard, first to Peter and 
John, who went to the tomb and found not 
the body, and to the others of the eleven. 
But while they were on the way to tell the 
disciples, Jesus himself met them. He first 
showed himself to Mary Magdalene near the 
tomb, and afterward to the others ; so that 
they had more to tell than what the angels 
said to them. They told that they had seen 
the Lord. Then followed his meeting with 



1 82 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the two who went to Emmaus, and with the 
company of the disciples in the evening of the 
same day ; and a week later he met with them 
again, and convinced Thomas of his being 
verily the same Jesus who was crucified. 
Afterward, on various occasions, he met with 
them, ate with them, talked with them, and gave 
them instructions, during forty days. At one 
time, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the 
morning, he called to some of his disciples in 
their boat (there were seven of them), who had 
been fishing all night and had caught nothing. 
He told them how to cast their net, and they 
caught it full. Then they came ashore ; and 
he breakfasted with them. It was in the con- 
versation which followed that he asked Simon 
three times, " Lovest thou me ? " and charged 
him, " Feed my lambs ; feed my sheep." Then 
also he gave the same apostle intimations of 
his future martyrdom. At another time, by 
previous appointment, he met more than five 
hundred disciples together in Galilee. 

At length, when he had sufficiently showed 
himself to his friends, so that all their doubts 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 1 83 

were removed, and when he had commissioned 
them to preach the gospel in all the world, and 
assured them of his perpetual presence, pro- 
tection, and blessing, in this work, and after he 
had instructed them to remain together in Je- 
rusalem till they were baptized with the Holy 
Ghost, while he was with his disciples on the 
Mount of Olives, he was taken up, and a cloud 
received him out of their sight. 

These are the principal facts given us in 
relation to the subject. 

4. The result was the belief of his res- 
urrection FROM THE DEAD FULLY ESTAB- 
LISHED in the minds of his disciples. All 
their doubts were removed. They as fully be- 
lieved that he had risen from the dead as that 
he had died. Not one of them in all his after- 
life called it in question. Nor has one of 
those who have believed in him as the Son of 
God, from that day to this, ever called it in 
question. 

His enemies, — those who procured his cru- 
cifixion having suggested beforehand that his 
disciples might steal away his body and pre- 



184 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

tend that he had risen, and having obtained 
sentinels to guard the tomb against any such 
attempt, — when he had risen, bribed the sol- 
diers to say that this very thing had been done 
while they were asleep. And this was .the 
current explanation of the matter with those 
who did not believe in Christ. 

But his friends, those to whom he showed 
himself, declared, without exception, without 
hesitation, with unwavering constancy, that he 
had risen from the dead. At the peril of their 
lives, against every interest for this world, in 
all places, at all times, they gave this tes- 
timony. They certainly believed it. Their 
conduct leaves no room to doubt their honesty. 
Men do not in such a manner declare what 
they do not believe. 

Were they competent witnesses ? Did they 
know the things of which they spoke ? 

Their slowness to believe at first, the full- 
ness of Jesus' manifestation to them to sat- 
isfy their minds, and the fullness of theii 
belief afterward, conspire to make them fit wit- 
nesses of the fact that Jesus did rise. Theii 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 1 85 

honesty, their capacity, and their opportunities 
to know the truth, qualified them to testify in 
the case. And the unquestionable, perfect 
certainty of their minds is such as to make 
their testimony very strong. It is difficult to 
suppose witnesses more competent ; and none 
could be more perfectly agreed and decided 
than they are. They were very joyful on ac- 
count of their Lord's resurrection. They did 
not immediately know what was to follow, nor 
understand the truth which they would after- 
ward preach. But they were glad when they 
saw the Friend they so much loved, the Master 
they so fully trusted. They told of it and 
talked about it with great joy. Their sadness 
and despondency at his death were changed 
into joyful confidence by his resurrection. And 
so, knowing well that the men of influence and 
power were all against them, they could testify, 
and did testify, that Jesus had risen from the 
dead. 

5. The preaching of the apostles de- 
pended on the truth of this testimony. 
They at first and continually connected their 



1 86 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

preaching with the resurrection of Christ. If 
he had not risen, as the Apostle Paul expressly 
declared, their preaching was vain ; and all 
faith in the gospel was also vain. Then is 
there no hope for sinners revealed ; no promise 
for the life to come is given above what man 
of himself can find ; and no light from heaven 
shines to enlighten the darkness of men. 

Now take notice how fully the first preach- 
ing of the apostles depended on the resurrec- 
tion of Christ their Lord. On the day of 
Pentecost, Peter addressed the people of vari- 
ous countries, who were astonished at hearing 
plain, unlearned men of Galilee speak to them 
in their different languages ; and after quoting 
a prophecy of Joel as then having its fulfill- 
ment, he said, " Ye men of Israel, hear these 
words : Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of 
God among you by miracles and signs, which 
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye 
yourselves also know ; him, being delivered 
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge 
of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands 
have crucified and slain ; whom God hath 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. l8/ 

raised up, having loosed the pains of death ; 
because it was not possible that he should be 
holden of it. . . . This Jesus hath God raised 
up, whereof we all are witnesses. . . . There- 
fore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, 
that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye 
have crucified, both Lord and Christ." This 
was a part of that preaching which resulted in 
the conversion of three thousand souls. 

Then afterward, when he and John had healed 
the lame man who sat for alms at the beauti- 
ful gate of the temple, Peter told the won- 
der-struck multitude that God had done this 
to the glory of his Son Jesus, whom they had 
denied and delivered to death when Pilate 
wished to release him, to whom they had pre- 
ferred a murderer, and killed the Prince of life, 
whom God had raised up, whereof they were 
witnesses. And at the conclusion of the ad- 
dress he said, " Unto you first, God having 
raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you 
in turning away every one of you from his 
iniquities." 

These men disturbed the priests, the captain 



1 88 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

of the temple, and the Sadducees, by preaching 
through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 
They were consequently arrested and impris- 
oned. And the next day inquiry was made 
into this miracle of healing a man who had 
never been able to walk a step in his life. The 
inquiry was before rulers, elders and scribes, 
Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, and others ; 
the very men who were concerned in the trial 
and condemnation of Jesus. They asked, " By 
what power, or by what name, have ye done 
this ? " Peter answered, ... a Be it known 
unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, 
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, 
whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the 
dead, even by him doth this man stand here 
before you whole. This is the stone which 
was set at naught of you builders, which is 
become the head of the corner. Neither is 
there salvation in any other ; for there is none 
other name under heaven given among men 
whereby we must be saved." 

The result was that they were threatened 
and dismissed. Then they went to their own 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 1 89 

company, told how they had been treated, 
united with them in prayer, and received from 
God a special blessing in answer to their 
prayers. "And with great power gave the 
apostles witness of the resurrection of the 
Lord Jesus ; and great grace was upon them 
all." 

Again they were seized and thrown into the 
common prison. But the angel of the Lord 
released them, and sent them to preach in the 
temple " all the words of this life." And when, 
in the meeting of the high priest, the council 
and the senate of Israel, they were questioned, 
the answer was, "We ought to obey God 
rather than men. The God of our fathers 
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on 
a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right 
hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give 
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 
And we are his witnesses of these things ; and 
so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath 
given to them that obey him. ,, 

So did the apostles preach that Jesus Christ 
was raised from the dead, and make all the 



I9O CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

truth and power of their preaching depend on 
the fact that he had risen. 

6. If they had not declared the truth 
they would have been silenced by their 
powerful and interested opposers. we 
have seen that they preached at Jerusalem to 
the people among whom Jesus had been cruci- 
fied. Before the very chief priests and scribes 
and rulers of the Israelites who had procured 
his crucifixion, they preached that he had risen 
from the dead. They declared themselves wit- 
nesses of his resurrection, and called upon all 
who heard them therefore to repent and be- 
lieve in Jesus as the only Saviour. They were 
arraigned for what they did before the Jewish 
men of power. The very characters and the 
very men who had conspired and accomplished 
the death of Christ on the cross were incensed 
against these disciples for declaring that he 
had risen, as very naturally they might be. If 
he was risen, he was the Messiah of Jewish 
hope, the Prince of life ; and they had mur- 
dered him. They were charged directly with 
having committed the crime of murder upon 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. I9I 

the Son of God. " Ye denied the Holy One 
and the Just, . . . and killed the Prince of 
life, whom God hath raised from the dead." 
In their own defense, they ought to have si- 
lenced these witnesses for Jesus and his resur- 
rection, if they could. And if the testimony 
was false, why could they not silence it ? 
They were men high in social position, office, 
and influence. They felt the charge brought 
against them by the apostles. They said, " Ye 
have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and 
intend to bring this man's blood upon us." 

And was there no way in which they could 
disprove the terrible accusation ? If it had not 
been true, they could have shown it false. 
They could have brought evidence that Jesus 
did not rise from the dead, if he had not risen. 
If the guards had said truly that while they 
slept the disciples stole away the body, there 
would have been also circumstantial proofs 
confirming their statement ; and they could 
have been brought face to face before the 
apostles, and the truth would have been shown. 
In a matter so generally known, and of great 



192 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

consequence to so many people of power, the 
truth, if against the weaker party, would have 
been brought out, and would have silenced 
their pretensions. 

But they were not silenced. They were 
very bold in behalf of their crucified Lord. 
They declared that he had risen. And on this 
declaration they called all men, high and low, 
rich and poor, even the very men who de- 
manded his crucifixion, to receive him as their 
Lord and Saviour. 

And they were wonderfully successful. By 
what power did they so prevail ? By the 
power of truth, and by the power of God. 
They could not have prevailed as they did, if 
they had testified to a falsehood. They could 
not have prevailed as they did, if the God of 
truth had not upheld and blessed them. 

The proof that Jesus Christ rose from the 
dead carries with it the proof of all the other 
miracles of the New Testament. They are all 
so connected with it that believing this we 
naturally and reasonably believe them. For 
my own part, I can not reasonably doubt that 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 1 93 

Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And con- 
sequently I can not reasonably doubt his won- 
derful works, nor his divine authority as the 
Son of God and the Saviour of the world. 

Peter and the other apostles preached to the 
Jews that Jesus rose from the dead, and that 
therefore they ought to repent and believe in 
him. In like manner every minister of Christ 
should preach. Because he rose from the 
dead, every one who seeks to be saved from 
sin and death should believe in him. He is 
the Saviour we need, and the only Saviour we 
can have. He died for us, and believing in 
him we need not fear to die. He rose from 
the dead, and believing in him we may hope 
for a joyful resurrection. He ascended to the 
right hand of the Majesty on high, and believ- 
ing in him we may expect that he will take us 
with him into the mansions of his Father's 
house. 



CHAPTER XI. 

CHRIST THE REVEALER. 

" For God, who commanded the light to shine out of dark- 
ness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
— 2 Cor. 4 : 6. 

1 HERE is here, plainly, a reference to the 
first manifestation of light, according to 
the account given us of the creation in 
the first chapter of Genesis. And God 
said, " Let there be light, and there was light." 
The apostle says the same. " God hath shined 
l in our hearts to give the light of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ.' , If we are Christians we may doubt- 
less believe the writer is speaking of that 
peculiar spiritual light, which God gives to 
those who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord 
and Saviour. Perhaps he was speaking of that 
194 



CHRIST THE REVEALER. I95 

superior spiritual light, which God gave to him 
and those who, with him, were preaching the 
gospel. Certainly the apostle was more en- 
lightened into the knowledge of God through 
Christ than most Christians. 

But I do not propose to speak now of the 
peculiar light which shines into the hearts of 
Christians, whether it be greater or less. I do 
propose to speak of the light which shines 
upon the world from the person of Jesus 
Christ, with regard to the greatest and most 
urgent inquiries that can ever exercise the 
minds of men. And I .hope to show that the 
light which so shines upon us we may reason- 
ably accept as coming from God. And if we 
may reasonably accept it, we ought to rejoice 
in receiving it ; for it is the light of the glory 
of God, shining upon us in our darkness to 
guide us in the way of life. 

Three great questions are answered for us by 
Christ, — all momentous, all urgent, all other- 
wise without sufficient answer. These ques- 
tions are, What shall we think of God ? What 
shall we think about a life to come ? How 



I96 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

shall we procure the pardon of sin, and prepa- 
ration for the life to come ? God has given us 
in the New Testament a revelation through 
Jesus Christ which answers these questions 
more fully, more reasonably, and more to the 
satisfaction of the human mind, than they are 
answered anywhere else. This is what I shall 
try to show. And if it appears to be true, it 
is a very strong argument for the truth and 
divine authority of the Christian religion. 

Let us then look at these questions, and see 
what answers we find to them in Jesus Christ. 

1. What shall we think of God ? The 
philosopher tells us that God is the Creator 
and Supreme Ruler of the world. He is a 
Spirit, infinite, eternal, almighty, omniscient, 
perfect in all wisdom and goodness. 

But we do not get a very clear idea of what 
a spirit is. And an infinite being is quite be- 
yond our comprehension. We can not take 
into our minds anything that is infinite. We 
can only look upon it, and have some ideas 
concerning it, going as far as we can see. 
And that is but a very little distance. We 



CHRIST THE REVEALER. 1 97 

can see into or around infinity but a very short 
space. It is impossible for us to have adequate 
ideas of God as the Infinite One. 

But God is, and he is infinite. And there 
is a craving of the human mind for some 
knowledge of him. We want, we need to have 
some clear thoughts about him, something 
more real and intelligible than vague, unde- 
fined notions of his existence as an Infinite 
Spirit. 

Doubtless it is this craving which leads men 
naturally to idolatry. They try to make some 
representation of God to help their thoughts of 
him. They know that the image is not God. 
They know also that the human body is not 
the soul. But the soul dwells in the body. 
And so they imagine that God dwells in the 
image. This helps them to think definitely of 
God as present. But it does not help them to 
think of him correctly. It hinders rather. It 
leads them to think of him as like four-footed 
beasts and creeping things, or like men, as 
men are in the world. And so they are turned 



I9& CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

away, by these images, from the worship of 
the true God, the One Infinite Spirit. 

The nearest approach we can make to the 
true idea of God is by purifying and expanding 
the knowledge we have of the human spirit. 
Let the human soul be freed from sin, made 
perfectly pure and holy, and then exalted to 
the highest capacity in all ways that we can 
conceive ; and by it we get perhaps a nearer 
approach to the true idea of God than we can, 
apart from' Christ, in any other way. 

But better than this is the revelation of God 
in Jesus Christ. He is Immanuel, God with 
us. "In the beginning was the Word, and 
the Word was with God, and the Word was 
God. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and 
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the 
glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, 
full of grace and truth. ,, 

So it was that God was manifest in the flesh, 
and that God was in Christ reconciling the 
world unto himself. So also it was that " God, 
who at sundry times and in divers manners 
spake in time past unto the fathers by the 



CHRIST THE REVEALER. 1 99 

prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto 
us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir 
of all things, by whom also he made the 
worlds ; who, being the brightness of his glory 
and the express image of his person, and up- 
holding all things by the word of his power, 
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat 
down on the right hand of the Majesty on 
high ; being made so much better than the 
angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a 
more excellent name than they." 

This is the same Son of God, thus repre- 
sented in the first chapter of Hebrews, who 
said to his disciples, when one of them desired 
him to show them the Father, " Have I been 
so long time with you, and yet hast thou not 
known me, Philip ? He that hath seen me 
hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou, 
show us the Father ? Believest thou not that 
I am in the Father and the Father in me? 
The words that I speak unto you I speak not 
of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, 
he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in 



200 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the Father, and the Father in me ; or else be- 
lieve me for the very works' sake." 

Thus in the fourteenth chapter of John we 
have the express declaration of Jesus that he 
shows men the Father. They may see the 
Father in him. In knowing him they know 
the Father. The disciple is reproved for his 
slowness in coming to this knowledge. He 
ought to have gained it before. The repetition 
of this double declaration, " I am in the Father, 
and the Father is in me/' shows how great im- 
portance he attached to this truth. This truth 
is that we know God through Jesus Christ. 
We see in him the best, the only true repre- 
sentation of God. It is, indeed, more than a 
representation ; it is a manifestation of God. 
The pure, invisible, infinite Spirit, whom we 
can not know so as to comprehend him, and 
whom the world most urgently needs to know, 
manifests himself to the world in Jesus Christ, 
that every one, who will come to Christ and 
acquaint himself with him, may know God. 
This revelation which God has made of himself 
in Jesus Christ is both clearer and fuller than 



CHRIST THE REVEALER. 201 

any other which he has made of himself. It 
meets the wants of our minds, the craving of 
our hearts, for some clear knowledge of the 
Infinite God. 

Notice what an intense want of God the 
psalmist expresses. "As the hart panteth 
after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul 
after thee, O God." " My soul longeth, yea, 
even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord ; my 
heart and my flesh crieth out for the living 
God." We want to know God as a refuge and 
a deliverer. How many and great are the dan- 
gers from which he alone can guard us, and 
the evils from which he alone can save us ! 
We want to know him as an object of trust, 
of confidence, of love, ever ready at hand, never 
failing. We want to know him, the giver of 
peace, of comfort, of strength, of joy, now and 
for ever. And God has come to meet this 
craving want of our souls by the revelation of 
himself in Jesus Christ. In him is answered 
the question, What shall we think of God ? 

Even the natural attributes of God, his all- 
power and all-knowledge, are brought more 



202 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

fully to our minds in Christ than otherwise. 
He commanded, and the sick were restored to 
health, the dead were raised to life, the stormy- 
wind and sea were still. So did he show the 
power of God. He told his disciples of what 
was occurring at a distance, of what was going 
to be in time to come, of what was in their own 
hearts, and the hearts of other men. So did 
he show the knowledge of God. But especially 
are the truth and love, the righteousness and 
compassion of God, shown in his Son. The 
holiness of his precepts and his life show God's 
holiness. There was no fault in it. It was 
God's perfect goodness in a man, and in direct 
intercourse with men. Then also the kind- 
ness, condescension, self-sacrifice of his life, in 
humiliation, as a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief, and of his agony in the garden and 
his death on the cross, show God's love to the 
world, God's love to his enemies. In the 
manifestation which Jesus made of his truth 
and love we see the glory of God's truth and 
love. 



christ the revealer. 203 

2. What shall we think about a life 
to come ? is the second question mentioned 
as of intense interest. Is there a life to come ? 
May we be sure that we shall live after death ? 
If we receive the teachings of Christ, no doubt 
remains about the answer to this question. 
He sets a life of immortality before us. The 
kingdom of God, which he came to establish, 
is not of this world. It is only begun on earth. 
Of the life to come he speaks freely and famil- 
iarly, as if perfectly acquainted with it. It is 
infinitely superior to the life that now is. Men 
should not fear death in the cause of right- 
eousness ; for great shall be their reward in 
heaven. And those in the way of wickedness 
have nothing to hope ; for the wicked will 
perish in everlasting woe. 

By the revelation given us through Jesus 
Christ, the life to come is certain. Man was 
made for immortality. His aspiring soul will 
not perish with the body. He will rise to a 
world of glory and blessedness, or he will sink 
to a world of despair and misery without end. 
His declarations and instructions on this sub- 



204 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

ject are plain and positive. We have them in 
such statements as this : " The hour is coming 
in the which all that are in the graves shall 
hear his voice and shall come forth ; they that 
have done good unto the resurrection of life, 
and they that have done evil unto the resurrec- 
tion of damnation." We have them also in 
such parables as that of the rich man and 
Lazarus, and that of the wise and foolish vir- 
gins. And with terrible distinctness does he 
tell us of the future life in the representation 
of the judgment in the twenty-fifth chapter 
of Matthew. He declares, so as to leave no 
room for a reasonable doubt with those who 
believe him, that there is everlasting life a.nd 
blessedness for the doers of good, those who 
repent of their sins and believe in him ; and 
that there is everlasting death for the doers of 
evil, those who do not repent and believe in 
him. 

He went to the other world and returned. 
And before he went he spoke familiarly of that 
other world. It was one of his specially en- 
dowed apostles who said, "Jesus Christ hath 



CHRIST THE REVEALER. 205 

brought life and immortality to light through 
the gospel." And his apostles speak com- 
monly as having assurance on the subject of 
the life to come. 

Thus the second great question is answered. 
Perhaps we may wish for more information 
than is given us about the future life. We 
often wish to know how we shall live hereafter, 
and what is the condition of individuals who 
have gone before us. We may desire to know 
many things which our Lord has not told us. 
But he has spoken very distinctly of the life to 
come, and of the eternal division between 
those who do good and those who do evil. 
He has also told us plainly the principle of 
the distinction between the saved and the lost, 
and how we may secure a place among the 
saved. 

3. A third great and momentous question 
was mentioned, which is answered by the reve- 
lation of Jesus Christ : How shall we secure 
the pardon of sin, and with it A preparation 
for the life to come ? This plainly is a 
most urgent and important question for every 



206 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

human being. We are sinners, all. We know 
this fact without a revelation from God. It is 
written with terrible distinctness in the whole 
history and experience of the world. And 
there is a witness to it within us in the voice 
of conscience. But how to obtain the pardon 
of sin, neither the world in all its history, apart 
from Jesus Christ, nor any voice within, can 
tell us. 

This he has revealed who came to be a 
Saviour for us. He tells us that in him we 
may have salvation from sin and death. He 
does not set us about earning salvation for 
ourselves. He does not prescribe a course of 
labor or of penance, nor a costly offering, nor 
a long pilgrimage. He does nothing like this. 
The heathen have done these things. He 
takes a different course. He does not say 
that our sins are less than we imagine, or that 
God is so merciful that he will overlook our 
transgressions. No, indeed. He sets forth 
the law of God in its strictness, applying it to 
the thoughts and intents of the heart ; so that 
all men who will compare themselves with it 



CHRIST THE REVEALER. 207 

must be convinced of sin before God. He 
says not a word to lessen the sense of sin, nor 
a word to let down the holiness of God, nor a 
word to weaken the strength of his law. His 
words are adapted to fasten upon our minds 
the holiness of God, the righteousness of his 
law, and a deep conviction of our own sins. 
But he says, " As Moses lifted up the serpent 
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
For God so loved the world that he gave his 
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." 

Thus he tells how we may obtain the for- 
giveness of sin and eternal salvation. It is by 
believing in Him who was lifted up on the cross 
for sin. We shall be saved by taking him for 
our Saviour who came to save us. "Behold 
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of 
the world." Trust in him as your Saviour, and 
your sins shall be taken away. They shall no 
more be kept in remembrance to your con- 



208 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD, 

demnation. They are carried away, to be 
never brought back against you. 

The psalm and the proverb had before 
taught that " He who hideth his sins shall not 
prosper ; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh 
them shall have mercy." Our Lord taught the 
same truth more impressively in the illustration 
of the Pharisee and the publican going up to 
the temple at the hour of prayer. That model 
prayer of penitence, " God, be merciful to me a 
sinner," in contrast with the self-justifying of 
the Pharisee, shows how we should repent, — 
what repentance is in its true spirit. It re- 
ceives the assurance of God's pardon : " I tell 
you this man went down to his house justified 
rather than the other." Thus, the way for man 
to obtain the pardon of sin and have the sure 
promise of everlasting life, is revealed through 
Jesus Christ. The light of the knowledge of 
the glory of God shines upon us in the face of 
Jesus Christ, opening before us the way to 
heaven, and calling us to walk in it. 

So are answered for us all the great, urgent 
questions which press upon us most heavily, 



CHRIST THE REVEALER. 209 

and which man of himself can not answer. 
God speaks to answer them. In his Son Jesus 
Christ he comes to us, lives on earth, goes 
about doing good, does many wonderful, mi- 
raculous works, speaks in words of heavenly 
wisdom and authority, suffers the agony of 
Gethsemane, offers the sacrifice of Calvary, 
reveals the power and truth and love and com- 
passion which none but he has to reveal. 

Such a revelation is what we need. It 
meets our wants as rational and immortal be- 
ings, and as sinners against God. And this 
adaptation of the gospel to the nature and 
wants of men is to me a strong proof of its 
coming from God. The God who made man 
and knows his wants gives us through Jesus 
Christ that revelation, which, if received truly, 
brings us into acquaintance with him, gives us 
peace in him, and prepares us to glorify and 
enjoy him for ever. Surely, then, we ought to 
receive the gospel as from God. If it were not 
of God, it could not so bring God to us. If it 
were not from God, it could not so open the 
way to God. If it were not from God, it could 



2IO CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

not so show us the glory and the grace, the 
truth and the love of God. 

There are a few interesting passages of 
Scripture, words relating to Christ, or spoken 
by him, which I think the course of thought 
now presented will help us to understand 
and appreciate. Some of the expressions in 
the first chapter of John are of this sort. One 
is this : " That was the true light which lighteth 
every man that cometh into the world." An- 
other : " In him was life ; and the life was the 
light of men. And the light shineth in dark- 
ness ; and the darkness comprehended it not." 
In a different place he says of himself, " I am 
the light of the world; he that folio weth me 
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
light of life." 

Now, if so much light as I have tried to 
show comes to us through Christ, concerning 
God, and immortality, and the way of peace 
with God, and of salvation, is it not fit that he 
should be called the light of the world, the 
light that shineth in darkness, the light which 
lighteth every man, the light of life ? What 



CHRIST AS A REVEALER. 211 

can be more reasonable than such designa- 
tions of Christ ? Truly, light comes from God, 
concerning God, concerning man, concerning 
eternal life and death, through Christ. And it 
shines in the face of Jesus Christ upon the 
darkness of this world. It shines clearly, 
brightly, though many in their darkness do 
not receive it. But he that doeth truth cometh 
to the light. Oh that all men everywhere 
would come to the light of the knowledge of 
the glory of God as it shines in the face of 
Jesus Christ ! 

In the conversation of Jesus with the woman 
of Samaria, related in the fourth chapter of 
John, he said to her, " Whosoever drinketh of 
the water that I shall give him shall never 
thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall 
be in him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." And what has been said, I 
think, illustrates this saying of Jesus. Water 
is a refreshment to the thirsty. It satisfies a 
most urgent want of our bodily nature. So 
Jesus meets the most urgent wants of the soul. 
He gives that knowledge, that truth of God, 



212 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

which brings peace and hope in God, which is 
refreshment for the soul, enduring for ever, and 
leading to everlasting life. 

Who does not need that refreshment ? And 
where can it be found ? Where, indeed, can 
you find any promise for the life to come, any 
sure hope of everlasting rest and blessedness, 
if you turn away from Christ ? 

" Jesus ! to thy celestial light 
My dawn of hope I owe, 
Once wandering in the shades of night, 
And lost in helpless woe." 





CHAPTER XII. 

THE MORAL LAW MUST HAVE COME FROM 
GOD. 

" The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." — 
Ps. xix. 7. 

*"E have thus far given attention almost 
wholly to the complete form of the 
Christian religion, as it is shown us in 
the New Testament. There, indeed, is 
to be seen the full excellency and strength of 
the gospel. Nowhere else does the full-orbed 
Sun of Righteousness, in all his glory, shine 
abroad upon the earth. I have said before 
now that Jesus Christ himself is the best evi- 
dence of the Christian religion. So I fully be- 
lieve. And the more I study the subject, the 
more certainly this seems to me true. It is 
only necessary that Jesus Christ should be 
seen, as he is presented in the New Testa- 

213 



214 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

ment, that men, all men who are candid and 
earnest in seeking the truth, may believe him 
to be the Son of God. 

But there is a sense, a true and very im- 
portant sense, in which Christianity existed 
before Christ came. The foundation or rudi- 
mental truths of the gospel are in the Old 
Testament. They are not all there, revealed 
in their completeness. The full truth of the 
gospel is brought out only in the gospel. Yet 
the principles of righteousness, which lie at 
the foundation of it, are as clearly declared in 
the Old Testament as in the New. 

The moral law of the Bible, and of the world 
under God's government, did not wait for the 
coming of Christ. It came in the ten com- 
mandments fifteen hundred years before. " For 
the law was given by Moses, but grace and 
truth came by Jesus Christ. ,, Of this law, I 
suppose, the psalmist speaks : " The law of the 
Lord is perfect, converting the soul." It may 
be that some other things besides the ten com- 
mandments are included in the expression, "the 
law of the Lord/' yet certainly the ten com- 



THE MORAL LAW FROM GOD. 215 

mandments are the central and most material 
thing meant. 

One of the best illustrations I have ever 
seen of the truth declared by the text is given 
in a tract of only four pages, which is not new, 
and yet I presume is not familiar to all who 
read this volume. I will give it here ; for I 
think it will better answer the purpose of this 
chapter than anything else I could put into it. 
I give the whole tract, beginning with the title. 

"WHERE DID HE GET THAT LAW?" 

In a neat and beautiful city in one of the North- 
ern States, lived a lawyer of eminence and talents. 
I do not know many particulars of his moral char- 
acter ; but he was notoriously profane. He had a 
negro boy, at whom his neighbors used to hear him 
swear with awful violence. One day this gentleman 
met a decided Christian, who was also a lawyer, 
and said to him, " I wish, sir, to examine into the 
truth of the Christian religion. What books would 
you advise me to read on the evidences of Christi- 
anity ? " 

The pious lawyer, surprised at the inquiry, re- 
plied, "That is a question, sir, which you ought to 
have settled long ago. You ought not to have put 
off a subject so important to this late period of life." 



2l6 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

" It is too late," said the inquirer. " I never 
knew much about it; but I always supposed that 
Christianity was rejected by the great majority of 
learned men. I intend, however, now to examine 
the subject thoroughly myself. I have upon me, as 
my physician says, a mortal disease, under which I 
may live a year and a half, or two years, but not 
probably longer. What books, sir, would you ad- 
vise me to read ? " 

"The Bible," said the other. 

" I believe you do not understand me," resumed 
the unbeliever, surprised in his turn; "I wish to 
investigate the truth of the Bible." 

" I would advise you, sir," repeated his Christian 
friend, " to read the Bible. And," he continued, " I 
will give you my reasons. Most infidels are very 
ignorant of the Scriptures. Now, to reason on any 
subject with correctness, we must understand what 
it is about which we reason. In the next place, I 
consider the internal evidence of the truth of the 
Scriptures stronger than the external." 

" And where shall I begin ? " inquired the unbe- 
liever. " At the New Testament ? " 

"No," said the other; "at the beginning; at 
Genesis." 

The infidel bought a commentary, went home, 
and sat down to the serious study of the Scriptures. 
He applied all his strong and well-disciplined pow- 
ers of mind to the Bible, to try rigidly but impar- 
tially its truth. As he went on in the perusal, he 



THE MORAL LAW FROM GOD. 21/ 

received occasional calls from his professional friend. 
The infidel freely remarked upon what he had read, 
and stated his objections. He liked this passage, 
he thought that touching and beautiful, but he 
could not credit a third. 

One evening the Christian lawyer called, and 
found the unbeliever at home, walking the room 
with a dejected look, his mind apparently absorbed 
in thought. He continued, not noticing that any 
one had come in, busily to trace and retrace his 
steps. His friend at length spoke. "You seem, 
sir," said he, " to be in a brown study. Of what are 
you thinking ? " 

" I have been reading," replied the infidel, " the 

MORAL LAW." 

"Well, what do you think of it?" asked his 
friend. 

" I will tell you what I used to think," answered 
the infidel. " I supposed that Moses was the leader 
of a horde of banditti ; that, having a strong mind, 
he acquired great influence over a superstitious 
people ; and that on Mount Sinai he played off 
some sort of fireworks, to the amazement of his 
ignorant followers, who imagined, in their mingled 
fear and superstition, that the exhibition was super- 
natural." 

"But what do you think now?" interposed his 
friend. 

" I have been looking," said the infidel, " into the 
nature of that law. I have been trying to see 



2l8 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

whether I can add anything to it, or take anything 
from it, so as to make it better. Sir, I can not. It 
is perfect. 

" The first commandment," continued he, " directs 
us to make the Creator the object of our supreme 
love and reverence. That is right. If he be our 
Creator, Preserver, and supreme Benefactor, we 
ought to treat him, and none other, as such. 

" The second forbids idolatry. That certainly is 
right. 

" The third forbids profaneness. 

"The fourth fixes a time for religious worship. 
If there be a God, he ought surely to be worshiped. 
It is suitable that there should be an outward hom- 
age, significant of our inward regard. If God be 
worshiped, it is proper that some time should be set 
apart for that purpose, when all may worship him 
harmoniously and without interruption. One day 
in seven is certainly not too much ; and I do hot 
know that it is too little. 

" The fifth defines the peculiar duties arising from 
the family relations. 

"Injuries to our neighbor are then classified by 
the moral law. They are divided into offenses 
against life, chastity, property, and character. 
And," said he, applying a legal idea with legal 
acuteness, "I notice that the greatest offense in 
each class is expressly forbidden. Thus, the great- 
est injury to life is murder; to chastity, adultery; 
to property, theft; to character, perjury. Now the 



THE MORAL LAW FROM GOD. 219 

greater offense must include the less of the same 
kind. Murder must include every injury to life ; 
adultery, every injury to purity ; and so of the rest. 
And the moral code is closed and perfected by a 
command forbidding every improper desire in regard 
to our neighbor. 

" I have been thinking," he proceeded, " where 
did Moses get that law? I have read history. 
The Egyptians and the adjacent nations were idola- 
ters ; so were the Greeks and Romans ; and the 
wisest and best Greeks or Romans never gave a 
code of morals like this. Where did Moses get this 
law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of 
the most enlightened ages ? He lived at a period 
comparatively barbarous ; but he has given a law 
in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent 
time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it ? He 
could not have soared so far above his age as to 
have devised it himself. I am satisfied where he 
obtained it. It must have come from heaven. I 
am convinced of the truth of the religion of the 
Bible." 

The infidel — infidel no longer — remained to his 
death a firm believer in the truth of Christianity. 
He lived several years after this conversation, — 
about three, I believe. He continued to pursue the 
study of the Bible, his views of the Christian re- 
ligion expanding and growing correct. Profaneness 
was abandoned. An oath was now as offensive to 
him as it was familiar before. When his former 



220 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

gay companions used one, he habitually reproved 
them. He remonstrated with them upon its folly 
and want of meaning, and said that he could never 
imagine before how painful profane language must 
be to a Christian. But did he become a sincere 
disciple of Christ ? He always expressed great 
doubt upon that point. He could hope for nothing 
from the world, and he was afraid that he might 
choose other pleasures from that circumstance, with- 
out a radical change of heart. 

I learned these particulars, a few years since, 
from one of the parties; and have endeavored to 
give them with strict accuracy. 

Let the reader meditate on this history, for it is 
believed to be rich in practical instruction. The 
main thought is this, that the moral law is a monu- 
ment, — a sublime monument of the great moral 
transaction at Sinai, in the delivery of the ten com- 
mandments. But mark also the species of unbelief 
here exhibited ; the improvement made of a linger- 
ing disease ; the judicious advice and kind attention 
of the Christian friend ; the beautiful arrangement 
of Providence by which these concurred ; the ex- 
cellence of the moral law as explained and felt; 
and, under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, the glo- 
rious reforming power of the Bible. 

I do not know the author of this tract. I do 
not know where the facts occurred. It is pos- 



THE MORAL LAW FROM GOD. 221 

sible to suppose that they never did occur, 
though there is no good reason to doubt that 
they were real. But even supposing these 
things never did take place, the argument is 
the same. 

We have the law of the ten commandments. 
It comes to us from the early ages of the Jew- 
ish nation, from the early ages of all written 
history. It exists to-day as the perfect sum- 
mary of moral duty, — not the most perfect, 
but the only perfect summary of moral duty 
which the world knows. Philosophers, ancient 
and modern, have found no fault in it, and 
have found nothing else to compare with it. 

Whence came that law ? It came by Moses 
through the Jewish people, and through them 
to the world. But where did Moses get it ? 
Did he learn it among the Egyptians, with 
whom he was educated ? How then was it 
lost from them ? And how did the Greeks, 
who learned some things from the Egyptians, 
and were afterward the most cultivated people 
of the world, fail to get it and make it known ? 
If other nations had it before Moses, we should 



222 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

have learned something of it from them ; and 
the knowledge of it would not have been con- 
fined, through all the ancient ages, to the He- 
brews. In all the literature of the world before 
Christ, it is not found except among the Jews. 
And, according to all their history and tra- 
ditions, it came by Moses. It must have come 
to the world by him. Was it then original 
with him ? Did he make it ? If so, how came 
he alone, of all the ancient wise men, to be en- 
dowed with such wisdom and goodness as to 
frame this law? Was he especially inspired 
of God, as no man before had been, and so en- 
abled to publish to his people the only perfect 
moral law ? If this were the fact, the law came 
from God ; and that is the very thing which 
the believer in the Bible claims. Then God 
has given to men a revelation ; and that reve- 
lation is contained in the Bible. Then God 
spoke by Moses, and commissioned him to be 
the teacher, leader, and lawgiver of his people. 
And then all the teachings of Moses are to be 
received as of divine authority in relation to 
the purposes for which they were given. The 



THE MORAL LAW FROM GOD. 223 

law which was given by Moses is a reason why 
we should receive for truth the statement of 
the miracles which were wrought by Moses. 
He who gave the great leader of the Israelites 
the perfect moral law gave him also, we need 
not doubt, the power to work among the 
Egyptians and his own people those stupen- 
dous miracles which established his authority. 
He claimed that God was with him, and he 
proved that God was with him. When the 
proof was given there could be no denying it. 
The people whom he led out of bondage in 
Egypt and through the desert of Arabia, till 
they came in sight of their promised land, had 
reason to believe in him as commissioned and 
inspired of God to be their leader. He estab- 
lished for them a system of moral instruction 
and religious worship, by which they were dis- 
tinguished from all other nations. By that 
system no immorality and no idolatry were 
allowed. In thirty-five hundred years the 
world has made no improvement upon that 
code of morals. Nor in the same period has 



224 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

it made any advance in the knowledge of God, 
except by the revelation of yesus Christ, 

There is one God ; and no other being is to 
be compared with him. God is a Spirit ; and 
he can not be represented by any image. He 
is eternal and supreme, just and merciful, in- 
finite in power and knowledge, perfect in truth, 
wisdom, and goodness. This is the God of the 
Hebrews, who gave the ten commandments, 
and governs the world by them. They be- 
lieved that he revealed the moral law by Moses, 
and that he gave them other revelations by 
Moses, and by the prophets who lived after- 
ward. And if we are reasonable, must we not 
conclude that they were right in this belief? 
How could it otherwise be that on the two most 
important subjects of all human inquiry, the 
law of morals, and the knowledge of God, those 
people surpassed the Greeks and Romans with 
their highest culture ? And how can it be, 
that, even in all modern nations, none surpass 
those ancient Israelites in these things, except 
such as acknowledge the revelation made to 
them and the further revelation made to the 



THE MORAL LAW FROM GOD. 225 

world by Jesus Christ? It can be only as 
the plain truth is told us in the beginning of 
the Epistle to the Hebrews : " God, who at 
sundry times and in divers manners spake in 
time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his 
Son." 

" The law of the Lord is perfect, converting 
the soul." It is not a Jewish law. It is for 
mankind. It is for us. There are none to 
whom it does not apply. Its adaptation to all 
men everywhere is one part of its perfection, 
and one of the marks of its divine origin. In 
that age of the world, among such a people, 
just delivered from severe bondage in Egypt, 
but partially civilized, not far advanced in in- 
tellectual culture, a law devised by man would 
have been limited in its adaptation, would have 
had something in it local and temporary, suita- 
ble only for the people to whom it was given. 
Among any people in any age this would have 
been the fact. The man has not lived in this 
imperfect world who, of himself, could have 
15 



226 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

devised a perfect law for all men, in all ages, 
and in all conditions. 

" The law of the Lord is perfect, converting 
the soul. ,, Its influence, when it is received, 
is here brought into view. All men are prone 
to think well of themselves. It is one of the 
infirmities, the marked imperfections of men, 
that they naturally think themselves better 
than they are. And the application of the 
moral law in its full sense will convert them 
from this error, It will convince them of sin. 
There is nothing so effectual to make men see 
and feel that they are sinners, as the applica- 
tion of the perfect law of righteousness to their 
life. So certain is this that any one who 
wishes to know his own character, his own 
sins, and how he stands before God, will find 
it the most effectual way to compare himself 
honestly with the law of God. He will thus 
be likely to see how far he is from what he 
ought to be. And as nothing else will be so 
effectual to show him the truth concerning 
himself in this matter, so this is one of the 
most effectual influences to turn him from the 



THE MORAL LAW FROM GOD. 22/ 

error of his ways. Seeing his sins, he will feel 
the need of turning from them. Seeing his 
sins, he will feel the need of a Saviour. He 
may not indeed turn from his sins to the 
Saviour. But if he do not, he will not obey 
the truth. He will obey unrighteousness. He 
will not receive the light that shines upon his 
life, to walk by it ; but he will turn away from 
that light to walk in darkness, in the darkness 
of error, of sin. He chooses darkness rather 
than light. And the longer he continues in 
that way, the more likely he is to continue in 
it. Turning away from the light to walk in 
darkness, he puts darkness for light, error for 
truth, evil for good. Then it is easy for him 
to think he is doing good, when he is doing 
evil. And so he is likely to be confined in the 
way of evil beyond hope of recovery. False- 
hood and wickedness are naturally joined to- 
gether, and do not go apart. " For every one 
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh 
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, 



228 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

that his deeds may be made manifest, that they 
are wrought in God." 

The law of truth is the law of God. It is 
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. 
" If we say we have no sin, we deceive our- 
selves, and the truth is not in us. If we con- 
fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness. If we say that we have not 
sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is 
not in us." 

" God is light, and in him is no darkness at 
all. If we say that we have fellowship with 
him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not 
the truth ; but if we walk in the light, as he is 
in the light, we have fellowship one with an- 
other, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
cleanseth us from all sin." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 

" We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto 
ye do well that ye take heed." — I Pet. i. 19. 

'HE apostles, in their first preaching of 
the gospel, constantly referred to the Old 
Testament Scriptures in proof that Jesus 
was the Messiah. They made great use 
of the evidence of prophecy. It is plain, from 
reading the Acts and the Epistles, that they 
found such prophetic language applying to 
Jesus as had great influence with them and 
their hearers. 

One reason for this probably was, that they 
were Jews, and always at first addressed Jews, 
among whom there was a general expectation 
of a Messiah, a mighty Prince and Saviour 
about to come, and among whom also the 
prophecies of the Old Testament were received 

229 



23O CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

as of divine authority. Even Paul, when he 
went out of Judaea into the surrounding coun- 
tries for the express purpose of preaching the 
gospel to the Gentiles, in nearly every place 
he visited, went first into the synagogue of the 
Jews. So it was in Salamis, in Antioch of 
Pisidia, in Iconium, in Thessalonica, in Berea, 
in Athens, in Corinth, and probably in other 
places. Beginning in this way, he extended 
his ministry to the Gentiles. Of course it was 
natural that great use should be made of the 
prophecies. They were brought out to the 
notice of those who expected the Messiah, and 
their application to Jesus of Nazareth was 
shown so as to produce a strong impression 
upon candid Jewish hearers. 

With us the New Testament is quite as 
much believed, and quite as easily proved to be 
from God, as the Old Testament. Therefore 
the proof that Jesus is the Messiah, from the 
prophecies of the Old Testament, may not 
make so strong an impression upon us as it 
did upon the Jews. Still, this kind of proof 
has not lost its use. It is very important as a 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 23 1 

part of the evidences of Christianity. And I 
propose in this chapter to make it the subject 
of consideration. I shall only select some of 
the plainest of the prophecies, and try to show, 
by a few comments, that they so apply to Christ 
and the Christian religion, as to make it rea- 
sonable to believe that God inspired his ser- 
vants, hundreds of years before the events, to 
foretell the coming of Christ and the blessings 
of his salvation. 

In the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, 
among other instructions by Moses given near 
the end of his life, when he was warning the 
people of Israel against false prophets, he said, 
" The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 
prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, 
like unto thee : unto him ye shall hearken." 
Then, referring to the fears of the people at 
the manifestations of God's terrible power, 
when he gave the ten commandments from 
Sinai, and their request that God would not 
directly speak to them, but that Moses should 
speak, it is added, "And the Lord said unto 
me, They have well spoken that which they 



232 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet 
from among their brethren like unto thee, and 
will put my words in his mouth ; and he shall 
speak unto them all that I shall command him. 
And it shall come to pass that whosoever will 
not hearken unto my words, which he shall 
speak in my name, I will require it of him." 

Now it is worthy of special notice, that after 
Moses there was no prophet of the Old Testa- 
ment who spoke with such authority as he 
had. He was the lawgiver of his people. No 
one afterward was like him in this respect. 
No one exercised such authority as he did 
both in speaking and in action. No one had 
such direct and constant communication with 
God in behalf of the people. No one gave, by 
signs and wonders which God enabled him to 
show, such striking and constant proof of God's 
presence with him. And no other stood so 
before the people as if he were in the place of 
God, exercising perfect authority in all things, 
and conducting all the affairs of the nation as 
God directed, that they might be peculiarly 
the people of God. Neither Samuel, nor David/ 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 233 

nor Elijah, nor Isaiah, nor Daniel, was like 
Moses in these things. 

But, according to the New Testament his- 
tory, Jesus Christ was like Moses in these 
things. He gave laws to his people with as 
high authority. He declared anew the moral 
law that came by Moses. He spoke and acted 
as if he had the authority of God in very truth. 
He spoke as having constant communication 
with God. He proved that God was with him 
by his many signs and wonders. He claimed 
to establish the kingdom of God on earth, and 
to reign in it with the power and authority of 
God. There was a very remarkable likeness 
between Christ and Moses, though Christ was 
by far the greater. As the writer of the Epis- 
tle to the Hebrews says, " Moses verily was 
faithful in all his house as a servant ; . . . but 
Christ was faithful as a Son over his own 
house." 

This prophecy by Moses, expressed in the 
plain language of prediction, is twice quoted in 
the Acts, once by the Apostle Peter, and once 
by Stephen, the first martyr, as applying to 



234 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Jesus and fulfilled in him. And certainly, such 
a prediction made by Moses, capable of no 
other application but to Jesus Christ, and so 
claimed as applying to him, is worthy of special 
consideration. 

There are various passages in the Psalms 
commonly understood by Christians as apply- 
ing to Christ. Most or all of them are quoted 
in the New Testament as referring to him. 
But I do not propose to dwell on them. It 
would require too large a space. I proceed, 
therefore, to speak of some remarkable passages 
in the prophet Isaiah. 

One of them is the sixth and seventh verses 
in the ninth chapter. " For unto us a child is 
born, unto us a Son is given, and the govern- 
ment shall be upon his shoulder: and his 
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the 
mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince 
of Peace. Of the increase of his government 
and peace there shall be no end, upon the 
throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to 
order it, and to establish it with judgment and 
with justice from henceforth even for ever. 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 235 

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform 
this." 

According to the view of those who believe 
in the Christian religion as given us by the 
express and special revelation of God, this 
passage is wonderfully descriptive of Christ 
and his kingdom. So understood, though it 
was uttered more than seven hundred years 
before Christ came, it is very highly significant, 
having a most precious important sense. It is 
inspired of God, and prophetic of Christ. 

But if it do not apply to Christ, what sense 
has it ? It claims to be prophetic. The dec- 
laration is, " The zeal of the Lord of hosts will 
perform this." If then it is not prophetic, it is 
a false pretension. If it is prophetic, it must 
apply to Christ ; because there is no other in 
the whole history of the world to whom it can 
apply. And if it is not prophetic, besides be- 
ing false in its claim to be, it is a high-sound- 
ing, unmeaning rhapsody. And can it be sup- 
posed by the most determined skeptic, that a 
writer of the high intellectual power and the 
deep reverence for God which all readers must 



236 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

see characterize Isaiah, uses language like this 
in mere false, pretentious, unmeaning rhapsody ? 
The supposition is not reasonable. 

We will turn now to the eleventh chapter of 
the same book of prophecy. And here we find 
language no less remarkable in its description 
of Christ, according to the New Testament ac- 
count of him. " And there shall come forth a 
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch 
shall grow out of his roots : and the Spirit of 
the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of 
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of coun- 
sel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of 
the fear of the Lord ; and shall make him of 
quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. 
And he shall not judge after the sight of his 
eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his 
ears : but with righteousness shall he judge 
the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek 
of the earth. And he shall smite the earth 
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath 
of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And 
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, 
and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 237 

After this description, I ask, in the words of 
the Ethiopian eunuch to Philip, Of whom 
speaketh the prophet this ? Does it not ex- 
actly describe the moral and spiritual character 
and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he is 
placed before us in the New Testament ? If 
any wished to set forth his ability and spirit 
and personal influence, according to the gospel 
histories, he could scarcely find more fitting 
language than this. The Spirit of the Lord 
was with him in such fullness as never blessed 
any other man ; and he had wisdom and un- 
derstanding and authority and power beyond 
any other man. He spoke too with force and 
effect well agreeing with the declaration, " He 
shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, 
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the 
wicked." And never was any other so girded 
around as he with righteousness and faithful- 
ness. 

The four following verses describe, in lan- 
guage highly figurative and poetic, the influ- 
ence of the Christian religion. " The wolf 
also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 



238 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and 
the young lion and the fading together ; and a 
little child shall lead them. And the cow and 
the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie 
down together ; and the lion shall eat straw 
like the ox. And the sucking child shall put 
his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall 
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain : 
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of 
the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 

There is one thing which makes us feel the 
truth and fitness of these words less than we 
should, and that is the small degree in which 
the Christian religion is manifestly the con- 
troling power in the world. The proper energy 
of the gospel is but very imperfectly carried 
into effect in the most favored places in all the 
earth. Consequently we fail to see very plainly, 
in a great many cases, that savage and cruel 
men are so changed as this figurative language 
describes. But we all know that, when men 
receive Jesus Christ as their teacher, their 
Lord, their Saviour, they are wonderfully 
changed, — transformed in some instances, like 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 239 

the wolf dwelling with the lamb, and the leop- 
ard with the kid, and the calf and the young 
lion together. We do not yet find men ceas- 
ing to hurt and destroy ; nor do we yet find 
the knowledge of the Lord filling the earth,' as 
the waters cover the sea. But we do find some 
progress in the spread of the gospel of peace 
and salvation ; and we do find that men by its 
influence are learning to do good and not evil 
to one another. And among some of the 
heathen to whom the gospel has been carried, 
its transforming power has appeared just such 
as to be most fitly described by the remarkable 
words of the prophet. Of this nearly every 
mission to savage or barbarous heathen fur- 
nishes some admirable examples. 

I must pass by some passages of great pro- 
phetic interest, which I should like to bring to 
your notice. We will turn now to the fifty- 
third chapter of this prophet, or rather to the 
passage that comprises the last three verses of 
the fifty-second and the whole of the fifty-third. 
I do not think it necessary to quote the whole, 
as it is a familiar passage. It is with good 



24O CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

reason one of the best-known portions of the 
Old Testament Scriptures. It is certainly one 
of the most remarkable. It presents to us a 
person having a singular variety and contrariety 
of qualities. Behold, my servant shall deal 
prudently, he shall be exalted, extolled, and be 
very high. His visage was so marred more 
than any man, and his form more than the 
sons of men. He is like a root out of dry 
ground, has no comeliness, no beauty to be de- 
sired, is despised and rejected, a man of sor- 
rows and acquainted with grief, and men turn 
away from him. He bears our griefs and car- 
ries our sorrows, while men think him stricken 
and smitten of God. All men have gone 
astray and turned away from God, wandering 
like lost sheep. But he suffers for all with the 
patience and submission of a lamb brought to 
the slaughter. He is cut off for the trans- 
gression of the people ; but he is guilty of no 
violence nor deceit. The Lord lays on him 
the terrible sufferings which he endures, and 
will reward him accordingly. The pleasure of 
the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 2zj.I 

be satisfied with the results of his labors and 
sorrows. He shall justify many ; for he shall 
bear their iniquity. 

These specimens of the prophet's language 
do not give the force of the whole ; but they 
give some hints of it. And is there not a like- 
ness very wonderful to the common Christian 
ideas of the Saviour, learned from the New 
Testament ? Must we not conclude that such 
a description of a despised, meek, suffering, 
righteous Saviour, exalted, glorious, and glori- 
fied by God in the results of his sufferings, 
given seven hundred years before Christ came, 
applicable to no other one in all the world's 
history, and applicable to him with wonderful 
exactness, — must we not conclude that such a 
description was given by the prophet as a 
revelation from God of him who was to come 
and did come to be made an offering for the 
sins of men, and to save them who believe in 
him ? To what other conclusion, with any 
good reason, can we come ? 

I will not now set before you any other 
prophecies in the Old Testament, of Christ as 

16 



242 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

he lived on the earth. But I will point you to 
two passages in the writings of Daniel, and 
ask you to consider whether they are not pro- 
phetic of events which are now in progress, 
though not yet by any means fully accom- 
plished. One of them is found in the second 
chapter of Daniel, in the dream of Nebuchad- 
nezzar and its interpretation. The four greatest 
empires of the ancient world, the world before 
Christ, are there sketched briefly and strongly. 
The fourth kingdom of iron and clay is generally 
understood to be the Roman empire with its 
elements of mingled strength and weakness. 

But here I must turn aside to say a word 
about the book of Daniel. Some infidel writers 
have said that these visions were written at a 
later period, when the events of which they 
speak as future had occurred, and then were 
ascribed to Daniel and the time of the cap- 
tivity, that they might have great importance 
in the eyes of the people. But certainly they 
could not have been so late as the time when 
the weakness of the Roman empire was de- 
veloped ; for that was after the time of Christ. 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 243 

The clay mingled with the iron, showing that 
the empire which broke in pieces all others 
was itself to be broken, — partly strong and 
partly broken are the words, — could not repre- 
sent its condition before Christ came ; for then 
it had not shown its weakness. That repre- 
sentation must therefore be prophetic. And 
the pretense of its being written later than the 
events it predicts shows the weakness and 
falsehood of the argument against it. 

But the particular passage that I wished to 
notice in this second chapter is the symbolic 
representation of the kingdom of God. " Thou 
sawes.t that a stone was cut out without hands, 
which smote the image upon its feet, that were 
of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. 
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the sil- 
ver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, 
and became like the chaff of the summer 
threshing-floor ; and the wind carried ' them 
away that no place was found for them ; and 
the stone that smote the image became a great 
mountain, and filled the whole earth." In the 
interpretation of the dream this is said to mean 



244 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

that the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, 
which shall never be destroyed, but shall con- 
sume all the kingdoms before it, and shall stand 
for ever. Is this prophetic of the influence 
which Christ and his religion are having and 
are to have in the world ; or is it not ? I pro- 
pose the question for you to think of it as may 
seem to you reasonable. 

The other passage of Daniel that I wished 
to mention is in the seventh chapter. Daniel 
had a vision of four beasts representing the 
four great empires. One beast was like a lion, 
the second like a bear, the third like a leopard, 
and the fourth was dreadful and terrible and 
strong exceedingly. This beast destroys the 
others, and has ten horns, and another little 
horn, before which three of the ten were rooted 
up ; and it has eyes like a man, and a mouth 
speaking great things. Then is a vision of the 
Ancient of days, on a throne of fire, executing 
judgment ; and the beast is slain, and his body 
given to the flames. Then one like the Son of 
man comes to the Ancient of days. "And 
there was given him dominion and glory and 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 245 

a kingdom, that all people, nations, and lan- 
guages should serve him. His dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass 
away, and his kingdom that which shall not be 
destroyed." It is afterward declared, as the 
explanation of these visions, that the four 
beasts are four kingdoms, and that the fourth 
and most terrible shall be utterly destroyed by 
the judgment of God. "And the kingdom and 
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom 
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the 
people of the saints of the Most High, whose 
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all 
dominions shall serve and obey him. ,, 

Does this mean that Christ, setting up the 
kingdom of God on earth, will overcome every 
power which stands against it, and it shall pre- 
vail over all the earth ? I believe this is the 
meaning. And is it not reasonable so to be- 
lieve ? 

I have now presented a few of the plainest 
examples of prophecy in the Old Testament, 
fulfilled in the history of Jesus Christ recorded 
in the New Testament, and in the progress of 



246 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

that kingdom of truth and righteousness which 
he established in the world. The express pre- 
dictions of Moses and of Isaiah are singularly 
met in the life and acts and character of Christ. 
And to the Christian the prophetic visions of 
Daniel seem to be in process of fulfillment. 
The course of events for the last two thousand 
years makes this impression upon most Chris- 
tian minds. 

And if this be the truth, what prospects are 
before us of the progress and power and preva- 
lence of the Christian religion ! Nothing can 
stand against it. All the systems of govern- 
ment, all the plans and organizations of men 
for wealth and power and glory, which are 
opposed to the kingdom of God, the reign 
of truth and righteousness, must be broken 
down. In the conflict which is going forward 
through the world, advancing as the gospel 
makes progress, between truth and falsehood, 
righteousness and iniquity, Christ and Satan, 
the truth, the right, the Christ shall prevail. 
The kingdom of God shall be established in all 
the earth. Its greatness shall fill the whole 



THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. 247 

world. They who turn away from it are lost 
without hope. They who stand against it 
must perish without escape. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ, the message of 
salvation by him, is the hope of the world. To 
it Moses and the prophets bear testimony. 
There is nowhere else the promise of peace 
and hope on earth, and of salvation for the life 
to come. " This is a faithful saying, and wor- 
thy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
into the world to save sinners." And since 
none of us can deny that we are sinners, take 
him, I pray you, for your Saviour and your 
Lord. There is no other in whom you can 
trust. There is no other way of hope and sal- 
vation for men. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ESSENTIAL UNITY OF THE OLD AND 
NEW TESTAMENTS. 

" And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and 
heirs according to the promise." — Gal. iii. 29. 

|F there is a plan of salvation for sinful men, 
which began to be declared far back in 
the history of the human race, which was 
the subject of direct promise, as the ages 
passed along, giving assurance of God's special 
favor to those who trusted in him and served 
him, and which was fully developed and ex- 
plained after the coming and crucifixion of 
Christ, this plan must be God's, and must be 
made known by his revelation to men. The 
Christian says that there is such a plan, and 
that the Bible contains God's revelation with 
regard to it. This the infidel denies. Which 
is right ? This is the great question as to the 
truth of Christianity. 
248 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 249 

The Christian regards the Old Testament 
and the New Testament as essentially con- 
nected, together revealing God's one plan of 
salvation for men. He does not look upon 
them as differing in their fundamental princi- 
ples of truth. He looks upon them as one in 
their design and in the substance of their in- 
struction to men. He finds in the Bible as a 
whole, containing the Old and the New Testa- 
ments, one Saviour and one way of salvation. 
There is to him a divine consistency and a 
divine authority pervading the whole, making 
of all the different parts one book, the Bible, 
unlike other books, as inspired of God, con- 
taining the revelation which he has given con- 
cerning the way of eternal life. But to the 
unbeliever it is only a collection of ancient 
writings of more or less interest and useful- 
ness, yet of no peculiar divine authority. 

The passage, " If ye be Christ's, then are ye 
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the 
promise," brings into view the fact of an es- 
sential connection between the Old Testament 
and the New. It plainly declares that the 



25O CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

true disciples of Christ have secured to them 
all the blessings which God promised to Abra- 
ham for his children. According to the Old 
Testament, Abraham was the friend of God, 
and was approved by God, because he believed 
God's word of promise to him. Abraham be- 
lieved God, and it was accounted to him for 
righteousness. He was not justified because 
he obeyed the law, but because he believed the 
word of God. So they who believe in Jesus 
Christ and the word of God which comes 
through him are justified, treated with favor 
as if they were just, because they believe. 
They who believe in Christ are blessed, as the 
believing Abraham was blessed. Both are ap- 
proved of God on the same ground, — on the 
ground of their faith. The condition of God's 
blessing is the same, essentially, according to 
the Old Testament as it is according to the 
New Testament. 

The real connection between the two differ- 
ent parts of the Bible will be seen, I think, if 
we look at some very important things in 
which they are alike, and some important 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 25 1 

things in which they are different. I do not 
now speak of their likeness or difference as 
to form and literary character, but as to the 
substance of truth in them, their moral and 
religious teachings. 

Let us first look at some very important 
things in which they are alike. 

1. There is the same God in both the 
Old Testament and the New. The God 
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. No idol can 
represent God. Jehovah, the Maker of all 
things, the living God, in distinction from all 
that are called gods, and set before men by 
images of wood, stone, or metal, graven by art 
and man's device, is, both in the Old Testament 
and the New, a Spirit, almighty, eternal, om- 
niscient, the God of truth and love, the God of 
holiness and mercy, the God of justice and 
grace. He governs the world which he has 
made, by righteousness and love, by his provi- 
dence, by his law, and by his gospel. 

Infidels tell us that there is a wide difference 
between the God of the Old Testament and 



252 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the God of the New Testament ; that one is a 
national God, of the Jews only, and terrible in 
his severity ; and that the other is the God of 
love, the great Father of mankind. But I do 
not find any such great difference. I find, as 
I shall try to show in another part of this chap- 
ter, the same God who is set forth in the Old 
Testament, more clearly and fully revealed in 
the New Testament, — not another, not differ- 
ent. 

But the difference between the God of the 
Bible and those which are called gods, where 
the Bible is not known, is wide indeed. Among 
all the people of the world, without the Bible, 
in ancient times and in modern times, there 
is either idolatry or absolutely no God, as 
among some of the African tribes, — except 
perhaps among the North American Indians. 
Everywhere, excepting among those to whom 
the Bible is known, the prevalent ideas of God 
are irrational,, debasing, often abominable, or, if 
not so bad, they are exceedingly scanty and 
unsatisfying. The difference between the one 
God of the Jews and of Christians and the 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 253 

gods of all other people known is exceedingly 
broad. 

2. There is the same moral law in the 
Old Testament and in the New. The law of 
the ten commandments is acknowledged in 
both parts of the Bible as declaring the true 
principles of all righteousness. It was pro- 
claimed from Sinai to the Jews. But there is 
nothing which limits this law to the Jews. It 
is fit, as a moral law, for mankind ; and when it 
is declared it takes hold on the consciences of 
all men. In the New Testament no new law 
is given. The glosses and perversions which 
had grown over the law of Sinai as it was in- 
terpreted by the corrupt Jewish teachers are 
cleared away, and its application to the heart 
as well as to the outward acts is declared. 
That summary of it given by the Lord Jesus, 
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart and soul and mind and strength, and 
thy neighbor as thyself," is quoted from the 
Old Testament. The two parts of it are found 
in two different places, the first part in Deute- 
ronomy (vi. 5), and the second part in Leviticus 



254 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

(xix. 1 8). So plain and certain is it that the 
moral law of the Jews is the moral law of 
Christians. Look where you will in the Old 
Testament, you find nothing less required than 
obedience to the ten commandments, and 
nothing contrary to them allowed. And look 
where you will in the New Testament, nothing 
more is required than obedience to the ten 
commandments. Even that "new command- 
ment," which our Saviour said to his disciples, 
" I give unto you, that ye love one another ; as 
I have loved you, that ye also love one an- 
other," is only a particular application of the 
ten commandments. It is not another or a 
different law. It is the law of love required to 
be carried into full effect between the disciples 
of Christ. And by the degree in which it is 
effectual it is made the test of discipleship. 
"By this shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another." 

The moral law of the Old Testament and of 
the New Testament is one. All moral duties 
are included in it for all men in all time. 

3. There is the same ground or con- 



unity of the two testaments. 255 

dition of God's approbation and blessing 
in the Old Testament and in the New. It is 
not the impossible ground of obedience to the 
law, but the practicable ground of faith in 
God's truth and love. I call the ground of 
obedience to the law impossible, because all 
men are sinners ; and none can be approved 
of God and blessed with his favor on the con- 
dition that they are righteous. They are not 
righteous according to the true sense of the 
law. The man who does the things com- 
manded shall live in the approbation and 
blessing of God on what he does. But as no 
one has done these things, no man can have 
the approbation and blessing of God on this 
condition. Abraham believed God, trusted to 
God's word of promise, and it was accounted 
to him for righteousness. He was received 
into God's favor as if he had been righteous. 
So, now that Jesus Christ is revealed as the 
Saviour of sinners, Christ has redeemed us 
from the curse of the law, being made a curse 
for us ; those who believe in him are received 
into God's favor on account of their faith. 



256 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

" So then they which be of faith are blessed 
with faithful Abraham. And if ye be Christ's, 
then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs accord- 
ing to the promise. For ye are all the children 
of God by faith in Christ Jesus." 

Thus, according to the teachings of the Old 
Testament and the New, men may come into 
the favor of God, and be entitled to his prom- 
ised blessing, on one and the same condition. 
That condition is that they believe God, that 
they trust to his word of truth and love, as 
Abraham believed and was approved, as those 
who receive Jesus Christ for their Saviour be- 
lieve and are approved. There is one plan of 
salvation running through the whole Bible, one 
condition of God's favor and promised blessing 
for the Jew and for the Christian. " For the 
just shall live by his faith. But without faith it 
is impossible to please God." 

In these three most important things the 
Old Testament and the New Testament are 
alike. They present to us the same God, the 
one living, infinite, eternal, almighty, omnis- 
cient Spirit, the God of truth and love, of jus- 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 257 

tice 1 and mercy ; they present to us the same 
moral law, the law of the ten commandments ; 
and they set before us the same condition of 
God's favor and blessing, — the condition that 
we trust to God's word of truth and love. 

It will help us to see the exceeding great 
importance, the really essential nature of this 
likeness between the Old Testament and the 
New Testament, if we look also at some 
strongly marked differences between them. 

1. The Old Testament was originally given 
to a single nation for their especial use ; but 
the New Testament was given for all men. 
From the time of Moses certainly, the worship 
of the one true God was confined, with few ex- 
ceptions if any, to the single nation of the 
Israelites. Probably from the time of Abra- 
ham it was confined to his descendants. And 
Moses is the earliest writer of the Scriptures. 
To him was revealed the law from Sinai ; and 
by him it came to the people of Israel. He 
prescribed, by the direction of God, a system 
of worship and of religious instruction for that 
one people. And the whole of the Old Testa- 
17 



258 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

ment Scriptures, of which he was the earliest 
writer, was given at first to them for their es- 
pecial benefit. Moses and all the prophets 
were of the Israelitish nation. They wrote in 
their own language and for their own people. 
Other people knew not the true God, nor the 
methods of worship by which he was honored. 

But the New Testament was given, and was 
manifestly designed to be, from the first, for 
the people of all nations. The worship it en- 
joins and the instruction it gives are adapted 
alike to all men. There is nothing in it limited 
by nationality. 

And this makes a very important part of the 
difference between the two portions of the 
Bible. 

2. The New Testament reveals more fully 
and clearly the truth and love of God than the 
Old Testament. The New Testament revela- 
tion is fuller and clearer, not because there is 
more of it, for there is less in the space it 
occupies, but because in the Old Testament 
Moses and the prophets spoke as the word of 
the Lord came to them ; and in the New Tes- 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 259 

tament God speaks to us more directly by his 
Son. Here God comes to us in Christ, and 
speaks such words of light and power, of truth 
and love, of terrible justice and tender com- 
passion, that even his enemies were constrained 
to say, " Never man spake like this man." 
Throughout the New Testament Jesus is the 
representative of God. There is no such dis- 
tinct, and, we may almost say, complete mani- 
festation of the Holy One in the Old Testa- 
ment. And so we have in this smaller portion 
of the Bible a much fuller and clearer showing 
forth of God's truth and love. He is not 
shown as a different being in his character, in 
his Spirit, and in his actual government of the 
world ; but he lets more of himself be seen, 
so that men may know him better. He acts 
himself out among men in the works of Jesus 
Christ. He speaks to them in the words of 
Jesus Christ. He sorrows and suffers for 
them in the sorrows and sufferings of Jesus 
Christ. 

The name Immanuel is peculiarly significant 
of that revelation which God makes of himself 



26o CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

by his Son. He is God with us, our Father, 
our Friend, our Elder Brother, our Saviour, 
our Lord. He is the precious object of our 
love and trust, satisfying our hearts with all 
that is good and true and full of enduring, glo- 
rious promise. Thus the New Testament re- 
veals to us more clearly and fully the truth 
and love and power and glory of the one 
almighty, eternal, holy God of the Old Testa- 
ment. 

3. A third difference is, that the Old Testa- 
merit teaches by significant forms God's way 
of pardon, peace, and life for sinners ; and the 
New Testament does the same by more sig- 
nificant acts. 

The sacrifice of animals was a very promi- 
nent part of the religious services prescribed 
for the Jews. All the people were to come 
before God, and, confessing their sins, were to 
seek pardon by the offering of appointed sacri- 
fices. The sacrifice was a solemn and affect- 
ing transaction. It no doubt had a meaning. 
And what was its meaning ? As the thought- 
ful and intelligent Jew brought an innocent 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 26 1 

animal to be put to death, an offering for his 
sin, what must he have understood to be meant 
by the transaction ? What could he under- 
stand but this, that as the animal died for the 
sin of him who offered it, so he deserved to die 
for his own sin ? He confessed himself a sin- 
ner, the sacrifice was offered for him, and then 
he was pardoned and accepted of God. Thus 
it was signified that the sinner deserved to die 
as the animal died, and that God's way of 
pardon, peace, and life was by the confession 
of this truth, and seeking God's mercy. God's 
method of pardon, peace, and life for sinners 
was taught by the significant form of sacrificing 
animals. 

It has been common to suppose that the 
Jewish sacrifices were typical, representing be- 
forehand the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of 
men. And with the New Testament and its 
teachings we may well believe this to be the 
fact according to the plan of God. But the 
Jews before Christ came could not know that 
their sacrifices of animals pointed forward to 
the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of men, un- 



262 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

less they were instructed by the Spirit of God 
more fully than the Old Testament shows us 
that they were. Some of the prophets per- 
haps saw this meaning of the sacrifices. But 
I can not think the people generally saw it. 
Yet all could see, that, as the animal died, the 
sinner, in whose behalf it was offered, deserved 
to die. And so it was taught by the significant 
form of sacrifice that God's way of pardon, 
peace, and life for sinful men, is by their con- 
fession of their sin and of their just condemna- 
tion for sin, and by their trusting to God's 
mercy. 

The same thing is directly taught in words 
in Proverbs xxviii. and other places " He 
that covereth his sins shall not prosper ; but 
whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall 
have mercy." 

And in the New Testament the same thing 
is taught by the more significant transaction 
of Christ's being offered a sacrifice for the sins 
of men. It is expressly declared here, that 
Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip- 
tures. He died for us, on account of our sins. 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 263 

'And so it is signified to us that we deserve to 
die for our own. sins. Then how terrible 
must be the evil of sin, that Jesus, the Son of 
God, must die for it ! Who can measure the 
greatness of the ruin which it brings, since 
nothing less than the sacrifice of Christ could 
recover us from that ruin ? 

How urgent then is the need of a way to be 
saved, that presses upon every sinner ! God 
only can open for us such a way. And he has 
done it. His gift of Jesus Christ his Son to 
die for our sins declares that he has done it. 
The offering of Christ on the cross a sacrifice 
for sin teaches, in a manner most impressive 
and most tenderly affecting, God's way of par- 
don and life for the sinner. It says, " Confess 
thy sin, turn from it, and trust to him who gave 
his Son for thee. Believe in God. Trust his 
word of truth and love. Trust his most im- 
pressive acts of grace toward thee. In his 
giving his beloved Son for thee, see how he 
loves thee ! " He acts out his love by that 
wonderful sacrifice. And his action says to all 
sinners, " If you persist in your sin you must 



264 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

perish with a terrible destruction. But confess 
it, turn from it, trust in me, and you shall be . 
saved for ever." Thus God in Christ speaks 
to us and provides salvation for us. 

The same way of salvation is taught both in 
the Old Testament and in the New, but in the 
New Testament it is taught more fully and 
more afFectingly. And this is an important 
difference. In this the New Testament is far 
superior to the Old, though there is an essen- 
tial connection between the two. The later 
revelation is the filling out of that which was 
begun in the earlier. 

I have now tried to show that the Bible is 
one book, its two distinct parts, which we call 
the Old Testament and the New Testament, 
having an agreement, an essential union in 
setting before us the same God of truth and 
love, of justice and grace ; in declaring the 
same perfect moral law, and in offering the 
same conditions of God's favor and salvation. 

Even the important differences, that the Old 
Testament was given at first especially for the 
use of one peculiar nation, and the New Testa- 



UNITY OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS. 265 

ment for all men ; that the New Testament 
sets forth more clearly and fully the truth and 
love of God ; and that also it sets forth more 
clearly and fully the way of pardon and peace 
with God ; — these differences show that one 
plan runs through the whole, making it, in the 
substance of its truth, one book, the Word of 
life. 

This is the Christian view of the Bible. Is 
it not more reasonable, and rather to be re- 
ceived as true, than the infidel view, which 
makes it a collection of ancient writings, some 
of them interesting and valuable, others use- 
less, but none of them of any divine authority ? 

" How precious is the book divine, 
By inspiration given ! 
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine, 
To guide our souls to heaven. 

" This lamp, through all the tedious night 
Of life, shall guide our way ; 
Till we behold the clearer light 
Of an eternal day." 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that believeth." — Rom. x. 4. 

fN the twelfth chapter I tried to show that 
the moral law is an argument for the 
*qjj divine authority of the Bible. The ten 
commandments are such a law, so full and 
so faultless that man could not have invented 
it, and God must have given it. This was 
the argument. 

Now I propose to draw an argument for the 
divine authority of the Christian religion from 
the relation of Christ to the law, as it is de- 
clared in the passage above cited : " For Christ 
is the end of the law for righteousness to every 
one that believeth." 

The authority of the law must be maintained. 
Otherwise, of what use is it ? There might as 
266 



CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 26/ 

well be no law, as a law which has no au- 
thority. And if the moral law, with all its 
excellency proving that God gave it, has lost 
its power, there seems to be no escape from the 
conclusion that God does not govern the world 
by it, or that his attempt to govern the world 
by it is a failure. This is so plain that it 
seems to be absolutely certain, if the Christian 
religion is from God, that some provision must 
be found in it which will uphold the law in all 
its force. A failure in this respect must be 
fatal to the claims of any religion which pro- 
fesses to come from the God who gave the ten 
commandments. At the same time, a religion 
which maintains the authority and goodness 
of the law, and also brings men to be at peace 
with God, and gives them salvation from sin, 
bears on its face strong marks of being from 
God. The righteousness of the law is so 
manifest that a religion which upholds it bears 
strong marks of being from God, and being 
true ; and a religion which does not uphold it, 
carries on its face strong marks of falsehood. 
I. Now, in the first place, the teachings 



268 christianity from god. 

of Christ declare the perpetual author- 
ity of the moral law. Mark his words. 
" Think not that I am come to destroy the law, 
or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, 
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle 
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 
fulfilled.' , Then he goes on to show the ap- 
plication of the law to the thoughts and intents 
of the heart. On another occasion he said, 
"The law and the prophets were until John. 
Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, 
and every man presseth into it." Then, as if 
to guard against the thought of any possibility 
that the law may be weakened by the coming 
of the kingdom of God, he adds, "And it is 
easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one 
tittle of the law to fail." So carefully does he 
teach that his kingdom preserves and does not 
destroy the law. Everywhere does he hold up 
the highest standard of moral duty. With all 
that he says of forbearance and kindness and 
forgiveness, there is not the slightest relaxa- 
tion from the absolute perfection and the eter- 



CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 269 

naL authority of the law of the ten command- 
ments. As they were declared on Mount 
Sinai, and written by the finger of God on the 
tables of stone, they stand for ever. 

2. Just in agreement with this teaching is 
the nature of the law. It is right ; there- 
fore, in its full strength, authority, and good- 
ness, it must stand. Righteousness must be 
preserved, or there is no solid ground for 
goodness to stand on. It becomes only blind 
and weak kindness, if it be separated from 
righteousness. It has no strength, no regulat- 
ing principle, no real blessing for men. If 
then righteousness be abandoned, goodness 
can not live. 

It has been supposed, that, in the order of 
nature, or in the nature of the two principles, 
goodness comes first, and righteousness springs 
from it, or is contained in it. It may be so. 
It may be that the principle of righteousness 
is contained in the principle of goodness, as an 
essential part of it. Certainly, goodness is 
something more than mere kindness. And 
what more is it, except as it combines with 



27O CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

kindness the law of right ? Then kindness 
and righteousness are both united in it and 
both essential to it. They are both essential 
to goodness and united in it, however the 
union may be explained. 

The law of righteousness must therefore be 
preserved, or goodness itself is lost. There 
was then a necessity that the Lord Jesus Christ 
should be tenacious of that law, as he was. 
He came into the world to save sinners, in 
agreement with the law of righteousness ; and 
he could not save them in any other way. The 
very goodness of God, that which constitutes 
his worthiness of love and honor and trust, 
requires that he should preserve the law of 
righteousness in its full force. This seems ab- 
solutely undeniable, so far as we can reason on 
such subjects. 

We have then two facts settled : 1. Jesus 
Christ declares that he came to maintain, and 
not to destroy or weaken, the law of righteous- 
ness. 2. From the very nature of this law it 
must be maintained, or goodness itself is lost. 
God's own goodness can not be preserved, ex- 



CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 27 1 

cept his justice also is preserved in its full 
strength. His very goodness requires him to 
be just, to maintain the perfect law of justice 
in its full force and its unquestioned authority. 
3. We come now, in the third place, to con- 
sider the declaration, — " For Christ is the 

END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO 

every one that BELIEVETH. ,, He meets the 
necessity of the case. To every believer he 
answers the purpose of the law in maintaining 
righteousness. Its excellency and authority 
are fully preserved as to every believer, though 
the law, which he has broken, is not executed 
upon him. The believer in Jesus is saved, 
while he honors the law in confessing that he 
deserves to die by its execution. He declares 
that the law is just in its sentence of con- 
demnation upon him ; and the Saviour declares 
that he shall not die, because he himself has 
died for him, the just for the unjust. Thus 
the law of righteousness is maintained ; and 
yet wicked men, when penitent, are saved from 
the doom of death, which the law declares they 
deserve. 



272 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Look at the law. It is for righteousness. 
It commands all righteousness. It condemns 
all unrighteousness. Its authority maintained 
is the reign of perfect justice. The course of 
life which it requires is nothing different from 
that of perfect justice and goodness. Main- 
tained and executed in its full force, justice 
and goodness are its aim and effect, its end. 
This is God's end in ordaining and upholding 
and executing the law. 

But the law says, "The soul that sinneth, 
it shall die." It condemns every transgressor, 
and gives no promise. It has no Saviour, and 
provides no salvation. And all men have 
sinned. All are transgressors of the law. 

What can be done ? Is there possible a 
way of escape ? Is salvation for sinners among 
the things which can be ? 

Not by any method which men can devise. 
Not by any power which man possesses. Not 
by any authority and power less than God's. 
Not by any other way than such as will pre- 
serve the authority and righteousness of his 
law. The law is God's. And he only can 



CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 273 

have, authority sufficient to stay its execution 
upon the transgressor. It is righteous with- 
out fault, and such as perfect righteousness 
requires should be preserved in all its strength. 
If then sinners are to be saved, it must be in 
some way which will keep the strength of the 
law in its perfect righteousness secure. Thus 
the wisdom of God and the authority of God 
must be employed for the salvation of men ; 
and they must be so employed as to preserve, 
in its perfect authority and force, God's law of 
eternal righteousness. 

Now let us turn to the plan of salvation by 
Christ. He comes with the authority and the 
power of God. He proclaims anew the right- 
eousness of God's law. And he offers salva- 
tion as a free gift to sinful men. The single 
condition on which he insures it is that they 
receive him as their Saviour. They, entrust- 
ing themselves to him, righteous as the law is 
righteous, confess the righteousness of the law 
in condemning themselves. And they, giving 
up themselves to his service as their Lord and 
Saviour, take his law of righteousness for the 
18 



274 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

rule of their lives, and his loving mercy, in 
which he died for their sins, as the hope of 
their souls. 

Thus it is that Christ is the end of the law 
for righteousness to every one that believeth. 
He suffers for the sinner, the just for the un- 
just. He gives salvation as a free gift to the 
sinner penitent and believing in him. And he 
brings the sinner, thus penitent and believing, 
to acknowledge and honor the perfect right- 
eousness of the law. Jesus suffers. The sin- 
ner is saved. The law is maintained, honored, 
loved. The love of Christ bears the curse of 
sin. The sinner trusting in Christ is freely 
forgiven for Christ's sake. And thus saved 
through Christ, he must glorify God in all his 
righteousness and love. 

This is the plan of salvation by Christ ac- 
cording to the gospel. It comes professing to 
be from God. It could not be from any other ; 
for it is such as no other being than God could 
devise and execute. 

And is it not worthy of God ? Does it not 
so show both the righteousness and the love 



-CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 27$ 

of Gpd as to carry with it proof of being from 
God ? Does it not so uphold the strength and 
majesty of God's law as to present a very 
powerful reason for believing it comes from 
the author of the law ? It unites justice, which 
the law ordains, with mercy, which the law 
does not provide, and makes them harmonize 
in the salvation of men, each shining the more 
brightly for its union with the other. 

To my own mind this view of the gospel 
shows it to be from God. It is the common 
view of it as setting forth the plan of salvation 
for sinful men, maintaining and even exalting 
the authority and the force of the law, while it 
promises freely everlasting life to every one 
that believeth in Jesus Christ. And this plan, 
accomplished by the coming of the Son of God 
on earth as a man, he being at once God and 
man, entering into our condition here in all 
things except sin, living with us, suffering and 
dying for us, that we might live for ever, and 
never die a§ we deserve for our sins, he thus 
honoring the law of right, under which God 
made us to live, and bringing those who re- 



276 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

ceive him for their Saviour to love and honor 
it, — this plan of salvation must be from God. 

As the excellency of the law proves it to be 
from God, so the excellency of this plan of 
salvation, upholding the law and illustrating its 
goodness, while it shows, beyond the law, the 
love and tender kindness of God, his unspeak- 
able love and mercy to the wicked, proves it to 
be from God. And so the preaching of it be- 
comes the wisdom of God and the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 

The plain story is told. God sent his well- 
beloved Son into the world to save sinners. 
Jesus came and lived and taught and wrought 
miracles, was hated, falsely accused, con- 
demned, finally suffered and died on the cross 
for sinful men, himself without fault. There- 
fore, say his disciples, Repent of your sins, 
and believe in Jesus ; for so you may be saved ; 
and there is no other Saviour. You must per- 
ish if you do not receive him. He only can 
take away the penalty of God's broken law. 
He died for you, that you may live. He, all 
pure and perfect, all glorious in the holiness 



CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 277 

and ,the love of God, showing the world the 
fullness of God's perfection as it was never 
otherwise shown, died on the cross for us, that 
we sinners might be freely pardoned and 
saved. 

Trust him, and he takes away from you the 
sentence of the law. Trust him, and he gives 
you everlasting life. Give to him your heart, 
and he gives to you the full benefits of his life 
and death. He has redeemed us from the 
curse of the law, being made -a curse for us. 
He endured the cross, despising the shame. 
And there is now no condemnation to them 
that believe in him. Those who commit the 
keeping of their souls to him he will present 
before God free from any charge of sin. He 
answers for them ; and it is by him that God 
will judge the world in righteousness. There 
can be no higher authority. There can be no 
surer promise. It is enough. God requires 
no more. The sinner needs no more. Truly, 
now, as the psalmist said, and in a fullness of 
sense with which even he could not say it, un- 
less by prophetic anticipation, " Mercy and 



278 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

truth are met together ; righteousness and 
peace have kissed each other. Truth shall 
spring out of the earth ; and righteousness 
shall look down from heaven." 

How significant and wonderful is the lan- 
guage of the prophetic fifty-third chapter of 
Isaiah ! " Surely he hath borne our griefs and 
carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our 
transgressions, he was bruised for our in- 
iquities : the chastisement of our peace was 
upon him ; and with his stripes we are healed. 
All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have 
turned every one to his own way : and the 
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 
It pleased the Lord to bruise him ; . . . and 
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his 
hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, 
and be satisfied. . . . Therefore will I divide 
him a portion with the great, and he shall 
divide the spoil with the strong ; because he 
hath poured out his soul unto death : and he 
was numbered with the transgressors ; and he 
bare the sin of many, and made intercession 
for the transgressors." This is indeed won- 



CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 279 

derful language in its fitness to describe the 
suffering Saviour, who lived and died seven 
hundred years after it was written. 

And not less wonderful are some of the ex- 
pressions in the New Testament based on the 
truth that Christ is the end of the law to every- 
one that believeth, showing in that truth a 
depth of meaning and a reach of influence far 
beyond our comprehension. Take for exam- 
ple the language used in the Epistle to the 
Ephesians, second and third chapters. Only 
a few of the expressions can be given here. 
" But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great 
love wherewith he loved us, even when we 
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together 
with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath 
raised us up together, and made us sit together 
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus : that in the 
ages to come he might show the exceeding 
riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us, 
through Christ Jesus. . . . But now, in Christ 
Jesus, ye who sometime were far off are made 
nigh by the blood of Christ. . . . For through 
him we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access 



280 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, there- 
fore, ye [Gentiles] are no more strangers and 
foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, 
and of the household of God ; and are built 
upon the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
corner-stone ; in whom all the building fitly 
framed together groweth unto a holy temple in 
the Lord. . . . For I bow my knees unto the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the 
whole family in heaven and earth is named, 
that he would grant you, according to the 
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with 
might by his Spirit in the inner man ; that 
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that 
ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be 
able to comprehend with all saints what is the 
breadth and length and depth and hight, and 
to know the love of Christ which passeth 
knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the 
fullness of God.'* 

Such language is wonderful. If we do not 
take in at once the fullness of its meaning, we 
can take in a part ; and we can see that there 



CHRIST SUSTAINS THE LAW. 28 1 

is more in it which we may hope to understand 
hereafter. In the ages to come we may ex- 
pect, if now we are brought nigh to God by 
the blood of Christ, to know, far more than is 
possible for us in the flesh, the breadth, length, 
depth, and hight of that love of Christ which 
passeth knowledge. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." — Prov. xxv. 2. 

'HE glory of God is manifested in what he 
reveals. If he revealed nothing of him- 
self and his ways we could know nothing 
of his glory. Without light nothing can 
be seen. 

But darkness also shows by contrast the 
things on which the light shines. Nothing so 
displays the splendor of the sun as the clouds, 
which partially obscure his rays, and at the 
same time exhibit the variety and brilliancy of 
his colors, so as no painter on earth can paint 
them. Polished gold and precious stones, in 
all their variety of richest hues, can not so 
charm the eye as the western cloud of setting 
282 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 283 

day, which conceals the dazzling brightness of 
the sun. 

So the glory of God is best seen through the 
many concealments with which he surrounds 
himself. " It is the glory of God to conceal a 
thing.'' This is not the only expression of the 
same truth. The familiar words, " Clouds and 
darkness are round about him ; righteousness 
and judgment are the habitation of his throne/' 
are another. And there are many besides. 

There is a class of objections to the Bible as 
a revelation from God, to which I think the 
proverb repeated gives the best answer, and 
one that should relieve our minds of much 
difficulty. 

1. One such objection comes in this ques- 
tion : Why did not God give a revelation 
to men sooner? Why did he wait so long 
after the creation of man, some two thousand 
four hundred years, before he revealed his law ? 
And why did he wait so long, some sixteen hun- 
dred years, after he revealed the law, before he 
made known the gospel ? Surely there was 
need of the law sooner. We can see no reason 



284 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

why so many generations were allowed to pass 
away without the knowledge of it. Nor can 
we see any necessity for so long a time after 
the law was given before Christ came. To us 
there seems no need of such delay. On the 
contrary, there seems great loss by it. Many 
souls who desired to see the day of Christ died 
without the sight. And many more had no 
such desires awakened, when, if Christ had 
been revealed to them, they might have re- 
ceived him. 

Then, further, why was he revealed to so few 
at first ? Why was his manifestation so ob- 
scurely made ? Why did God, if he sent his 
Son to be the Saviour of the world, set him 
forth at first only to a few unknown, unlearned, 
and uninfluential men ? And why was there no 
great, unquestionable proclamation of his divine 
commission and divine authority? Why was 
not the attention of the world so challenged 
that men would immediately receive him in 
his true character ? Especially may it be asked, 
Why was there not such convincing evidence 
that neither then nor since could men raise a 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 285 

question whether Jesus was indeed the Christ, 
the Son of God, the Saviour of the world ? 

The full answer to all questions of this kind 
is concealed from the knowledge of men. We 
do not know enough to explain the matter. 
God in his wisdom did not consult our judg- 
ment as to the best way and time for making 
his revelation to the world. He took methods 
which are open to many questions, and leave 
men's minds often sorely perplexed with dif- 
ficulties and mysteries, which sometimes allow 
objections to be raised that no man can easily 
remove. Indeed, it may be doubted whether 
any one can remove all the objections that 
may be raised against the Bible as a revelation 
from God. It would be presumptuous to say, 
in our limited knowledge and understanding, 
that all of them can be removed. 

Doubtless God had good reasons for delay- 
ing so long the revelation of his written word, 
and for the long interval between the giving 
of the law and the giving of the gospel, and 
for sending Jesus Christ in a manner so ob- 
scure and little observed, and for withholding 



286 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

such evidence as would have compelled the 
assent of all men to his divine mission and 
divine character. 

And there is like reason to wonder at the 
slow progress of Christianity since Christ 
came. Why does not he who gave it to the 
world for salvation make it more rapidly and 
completely effectual ? Who can tell ? 

On all these questions the cloud of conceal- 
ment hides the clear light from our eyes. Yet 
through and around this cloud there shine such 
rays of various and brilliant colors as ought to 
fill our minds with admiration of his glory. In 
contrast with the darkness of heathenism 
spreading over the world in those long inter- 
vals of time, what a great and wonderful light 
was that which came by Moses in the revela- 
tion through him to the world ! So far as we 
moderns know, Egypt was at that period raised 
to the highest place among the nations in civ- 
ilization, in scientific and intellectual culture. 
Before Greece, the land of Homer and Solon, 
of Socrates and Pericles, had a name in the 
world, Egypt held the first rank. But the 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 287 

tyranny of Egypt's king over the enslaved Isra- 
elites was broken by a series of wonderful 
judgments from God, in which his glory shone 
out the more brightly for all the darkness of 
surrounding idolatry. 

Then, too, the law from Sinai, with its thun- 
derings and lightnings, flashed upon the clouded 
world a light that has never since gone out, 
and never will. The brightness of those two 
stone tables, on which the ten commandments 
were written, shines out the more wonderfully 
for the deep darkness which enshrouded the 
whole earth at that period, and so much the 
more displays the glory of God. 

And so through the whole history of the 
Israelites, the interpositions of God by his 
providence, and his revelations by the prophets, 
the reproofs, instructions, and warnings he 
gives, and the expressions of his long-suffering 
and tender mercy, shine out the more brightly 
and gloriously in the darkness of surrounding 
heathenism, and the lesser darkness of the 
perverse, though highly favored, peculiar peo- 
ple. Afterward, when Christ came, the ob- 



283 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

scurity and poverty of his condition, the com- 
monness of his associates, the small attention 
he received at first, and later the fierce, ma- 
lignant opposition he encountered, and at last 
the falsehood and mockery of his trial and the 
death of ignominy and agony, all contrast won- 
derfully wich the purity and truth, the sim- 
plicity and wisdom and energy of his words 
and his life, with his miraculous works, with 
his claims of divine authority and power, with 
his resurrection after death and his triumph- 
ant ascension from the earth. 

From his coming until now, the progress 
and influence of the gospel in the midst of the 
indifference and the opposition it has encoun- 
tered, — overcoming persecution, living through 
corruption, ever blessing the world, debased 
and darkened by wickedness and ignorance, 
with its light of love and truth, — are so brightly 
•marked in shining through the thick darkness 
of many ages, that, if our own minds are not 
utterly blinded by sin, we must see in it through 
all its course the shining forth of God's glory. 

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing. 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 289 

The very darkness and wickedness which op- 
pose the full brightness and power of the gos- 
pel, when you look into its truth and love, and 
mark its blessed influence, show forth in it the 
glory of God. 

2. There is much difference of opinion 

ABOUT THE TEACHINGS OF THE BlBLE. And 

this is sometimes made an objection to it as a 
revelation from God. Men say, " There are so 
many different ways of understanding and ex- 
plaining the Bible that we do not know what 
it means. Surely, if God should speak to us he 
would not speak so uncertainly. We might as 
well have no revelation as have one that can 
not be understood. But no two persons agree 
entirely about the meaning of the Bible ; and 
many who have studied it give opposite, con- 
tradictory statements and explanations of its 
teachings. How then can it tell us the truth 
of God ? " 

This is the matter of fact as we see it. 
There are these differences. I do not think I 
have represented them in the mouth of the ob- 
19 



29O CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

jector too strongly. And how is this objection 
to be answered ? 

There are minor differences which are not 
material, and do not hinder men from receiving 
the Bible as the word of God, any more than 
differences of appetite and taste hinder men 
from eating their dinner at the same table. 
Such differences are surely no valid objection 
to the truth and authority of the Bible. It is 
indeed an argument in its favor, that many, 
having independent views and opinions con- 
cerning its meaning, agree substantially in re- 
ceiving it as the word of God. 

But there are also differences which are not 
small, which in fact amount to opposition, and 
on essential points can not possibly be recon- 
ciled. It may relieve the difficulty in some 
degree to consider that the same thing occurs 
with regard to the best and most precious pro- 
ductions of human wisdom. We have a very 
notable example of it in the constitution of our 
government. Some influential characters have 
long, if not from the very beginning, held the 
State, in its reserved claims, to be above the 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 29 1 

Uni.ted States. And they have carried out 
this opinion in the attempted separation of 
some States from the nation. It was a politi- 
cal heresy and a practical absurdity, most mis- 
chievous and ruinous in its effects. Yet by it 
the leaders of rebellion sought to justify their 
destructive course of conduct in throwing off 
the national government as if it had no rightful 
national authority. They have followed their 
error to their own destruction. So men some- 
times misinterpret the Bible, and follow their 
error to their own destruction. 

Nevertheless, the truth will stand ; and the 
destructive consequences of error show the 
beauty and force of truth more clearly by the 
contrast, and by its salutary effects. Those 
who misunderstand and falsely explain the 
Bible perish because they turn aside from its 
true sense. But those who read it aright and 
obey it live. 

3. It is a third objection, that the Bible 
doctrine concerning the mode of God's exist- 
ence has in it mystery and apparent con- 
tradiction. The common statement of the 



292 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD, 

doctrine is, that the Bible represents God as 
existing in three persons ; and that these three 
persons, called the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit, are one God. And often it is said 
that the Father is God, the Son is God, and 
the Spirit is God. The objector says, " This 
makes three Gods and one God. The doctrine 
is contradictory and absurd.'' 

The reply is, This Bible doctrine concerning 
God is a great mystery ; but there is no con- 
tradiction nor absurdity in it. There is one 
God, who exists in three persons. This use of 
the word persons does not mean that there 
are three distinct beings, as the common use 
of it might imply, but expresses a threefold 
distinction in the one God. He is one and he 
is three, but not in the same sense both one 
and three. We hold fast to the truth that 
there is but one God, as the teaching of the 
Bible. But because we think the Bible teaches 
that the Son does the works of God and is 
God, and that the Holy Spirit also is God we 
think that the one God is in some way three. 
We do not say how. And this threeness we 






SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 293 

call three persons. We do not deny that there 
is mystery, something obscure which we can 
not explain, in any statement or representation 
we can make about it. 

But then it seems to us there is mystery, 
something obscure which we can not explain, 
about any ideas we can form of God as an In- 
finite Spirit. What can we know of a pure 
spirit, except that it is like that in us which 
thinks and feels, and hopes and fears, and re- 
joices and sorrows, and judges and chooses 
and wills ? How can we think of God as a 
Spirit, except that he is like the spirit in man, 
only pure, without fault, and exalted or enlarged 
beyond any limit ? 

And then we are lost in mystery. We can 
not take into our minds the idea of an infinite 
being, or anything infinite. We can say that God 
has almighty power, is always and everywhere 
present, is perfectly good, is infinite in his love 
and mercy and truth and justice and grace. 
But all this infinity we can not comprehend. 
We know very little about it. It is so far 
above the comprehension of our minds that we 



294 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

may truly say, God, great and glorious and 
just and good as he must be, is the most mys- 
terious being that exists. He dwells in so 
great mystery, from his being the Infinite Spirit, 
that we can see clearly but little about him, 
and really all our knowledge of him takes in 
but a very small part of his immeasurable be- 
ing. So it is because he is infinite. Yet if he 
were not infinite he would not be God. 

Here comes in the glory of the Bible doc- 
trine, that God was in Christ. This, too, is a 
mystery, that Christ, being a man, should be 
also God ; that as the Son of man he should be 
of the same human nature with us, and as the 
Son of God he should be of the same divine 
nature with the Father. But, receiving it for 
truth, however mysterious, we come to more 
knowledge of God than we can get in any 
other way. Jesus Christ was a man and lived 
on earth. And if he was also God, then in 
knowing him we know God. It is the glory 
of this mystery that Jesus Christ reveals God 
to the world. He shows the power and truth 
and love and justice and grace of God far more 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 295 

than the Infinite One has otherwise revealed 
himself to us. Out of the mystery of his be- 
ing, as the infinite Spirit, God shines upon us 
and speaks to us in Jesus Christ, who is the 
brightness of his glory and the express image 
of his person. The cloud, which always to us 
covers the face of the Almighty and Infinite 
One, is broken, and the true glory shines 
through in Jesus Christ his Son. "And the 
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and 
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only- 
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 
No man hath seen God at any time ; the only- 
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the 
Father, he hath declared him. ,, 

4. Another objection to the Bible is its 
doctrine of native depravity. Men are 
born to be sinners ; born so that they certainly 
will sin. The objector says, "This seems a 
harsh, severe arrangement ; and anything like 
it made by men would be regarded as unfair, 
unjust. It is then unworthy of God.'' 

To this it must be replied, that possibly God 
may do some things which men have neither 



296 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the right nor the power to do. He is so far 
above us that we can not always judge what is 
right for him to do. Men in private life can 
not always judge what is right for those in 
high public office to do. They have not suf- 
ficient knowledge. Much less can we always 
judge wisely of God's ways. 

Besides, it is a fact, as plain as that there is 
a difference between right and wrong, that sin 
is in the world, as men are, by nature. The 
fact does not come to us from the Bible alone. 
It is seen everywhere, with or without the 
Bible. 

But the Bible takes the facts as they are ; 
it tells us some things about the introduction 
of sin, and reveals the way of salvation from sin 
and death. So it reveals in some measure the 
dark and terrible facts of our condition in the 
world, though it does not explain them. 

5. An objection to the Bible is sometimes 
made from its doctrine of eternal punish- 
ment. The objector says, " That a large part 
of mankind should have been made to perish 
for ever seems utterly inconsistent with the 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 297 

goodness of the Almighty. Since God is al- 
mighty, he has power to save all men. And 
since he is infinite in benevolence, he must be 
disposed to save all men." This argument for 
Universalism is short, plain, and forcible. But 
most people who read and think find it quite 
contrary to the teachings of the Bible. To 
them this book says plainly and undeniably, 
" The wicked shall be punished with everlast- 
ing destruction from the presence of the Lord 
and the glory of his power." So, if they will 
not believe this doctrine, they can not believe 
the Bible. 

Now the real difficulty in this matter lies 
farther back than the Bible. It is in the mys- 
tery of iniquity. Whence came evil, sin, in 
the world ? Since God is almighty, he must 
have power to prevent it. And since he is in- 
finitely good, he must have chosen to prevent 
it. So it seems perfectly proved that evil can 
not be in God's world. And yet here it is. 
There is no denying the fact. And the mys- 
tery of the fact is as great without the Bible 
as with it. Rejecting the Bible does not help 



298 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the difficulty. And it must be confessed that 
believing the Bible does not remove it. The 
mystery of sin and misery in the world is not 
explained by the Bible. 

But something better is done. A remedy 
for these greatest and saddest mysteries of 
God's creation and government of the world is 
proclaimed. Jesus Christ came into the world 
to save sinners, and died on the cross for the 
sins of men, that all may be saved who will be- 
lieve in him. This is a remedy for sin in the 
world that proves effectual in every instance 
of fair trial, and fails of universal effect only 
for the want of proper use. Thus, though the 
Bible does not remove the mystery of sin and 
its consequences, there shines through it, upon 
this deepest darkness of the world, the light 
of love and salvation from the throne of God. 

But here the same difficulty arises in another 
form. The objector may say, " How can God 
desire to save all men, when he does not de- 
sign to do so ? As he has all power, why can 
he not do what he desires ? How is he true 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 299 

and earnest in his plan of salvation, when he 
does not make it effectual for all ? 

I do not know that I can answer this ques- 
tion. But so far as I can give answer, it is 
this : God does not desire the death of the 
wicked. He is true and earnest in his desire 
and plan to save. All we know of him shows 
that this must be. But while his plan is suf- 
ficient for all, and he earnestly desires it to be 
effectual, for some reasons not explained to us 
he does not save all by it. Many choose to 
continue in their ways of sin ; and so continu- 
ing, they can not be saved. God does not 
compel them to turn from their sin and be 
saved. 

It has been suggested that perhaps the free- 
dom of men to do as they choose forbids God 
to do more than he does for their salvation ; 
that if he should do more than he does it would 
break up the system of free agency and per- 
sonal responsibility, in which he made men to 
live. 

We can not see that this would be the fact, 
and still it may be for aught we know. 



300 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Yet certainly he does not desire the death 
of any, but that all may live. His purpose is 
declared plainly, — to save all who will come to 
him by Jesus Christ. Plainly, and with earnest 
desire, he offers salvation to all, with the as- 
surance, " He that believe th in Jesus shall be 
saved." And no one of all the perishing wicked 
can say it is God's fault that he does not be- 
lieve unto salvation. 

Now let us consider what would be the con- 
dition of men without the Bible, as to a knowl- 
edge of a future life. They might look for- 
ward with some reasonable hope or expecta- 
tion of a life to come. Many, doubtless, would 
have the belief of a future life ; but certain 
knowledge of it we could not have. Then 
what should we expect that life will be ? Here 
we see that many destroy their happiness, 
their character, all the good they might have 
in life, by their wickedness. They are ruined 
beyond recovery. There is absolutely no hope 
for them in this world. Others, on the con- 
trary, secure honor, comfort, prosperity, all the 
good allowed to men on the earth, by the ex- 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 3OI 

cellence of their life. These are matters of 
common observation, the teachings of obser- 
vation and experience. 

And yet in the experience of this life it is 
by no means uniform that the righteous are 
blessed in their righteousness, and the wicked 
cursed in their wickedness. Sometimes the 
ways of the wicked prosper, and # tbe ways 
of the righteous are filled with trouble and 
sorrow. Indeed, there are instances in which 
some of the best people experience so much 
affliction that almost the only joy or comfort 
they have seems to arise from the conscious- 
ness of trying to do right, and from their con- 
fidence in God, and their hope for the life to 
come. 

There are also many examples of those who 
have lived wickedly turning into a new and 
good life. 

By the force of conscience, and reason like- 
wise, the impression is fastened upon most 
minds that there must be an essential con- 
nection between the life here and the life here- 



302 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

after, and that men will be rewarded according 
to their deeds. 

The Bible comes in then to speak with au- 
thority and certainty of the future existence. 
It assumes the truth of the impression that the 
life to come has an essential connection with 
our present life. It declares expressly that 
those who do good shall be blessed with ever- 
lasting life, and those who do evil shall be 
condemned to everlasting death. And since 
all have sinned, it offers the forgiveness of sins 
and eternal salvation freely to all, through 
Christ, assuring those who believe, that they 
shall be saved, and those who do not believe, 
that they shall go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment. 

Thus the Bible agrees with the course of 
God's providence, and with the impressions 
arising from the force of conscience and rea- 
son ; and it goes beyond, bringing distinctly 
into view the retributions of eternity, with the 
free offer of eternal life. Is there anything in 
this doctrine of revelation to make us reasona- 
bly question the divine authority of the Bible ? 



SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 303 

If men continue to do evil they will perish in 
their sin. So it is in this world ; and so the 
Bible says it will be in the life to come. 

Some of the chief objections made to the 
Bible have now been considered. And it really 
seems to me that, if we look at them rightly, 
they are arguments in its favor rather than 
against it. There are mysteries in it, as in 
everything which relates to the Infinite One. 
God, as infinite, must be surrounded with 
mysteries. But the light shines through the 
clouds, and over them. It is the true light 
spreading over the darkness of the world. By 
it the Sun of Righteousness arises and shines 
with healing in his beams. " For God so loved 
the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life. 

God speaks plainly to us all who have the 
Bible, as he spoke by Moses to the Israelites : 
" See ; I have set before you this day life and 
good, and death and evil." In the Bible at 
large he speaks to men as if he were address- 
ing every one personally : " I call heaven and 



304 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

earth to record this day against you, that I 
have set before thee life and death, blessing 
and cursing ; therefore choose life, that both 
thou and thy seed may live : that thou mayest 
love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest 
obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave 
unto him ; for he is thy life." 






?) ffN 



CHAPTER XVII. 

INSPIRATION. 

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- 
tion in righteousness : that the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." — 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 

HE arguments which I have presented in 
the successive chapters of this volume, 
for Christianity as a revelation from God, 
and therefore the only true religion, have, 
I hope, appeared conclusive to those who have 
given them careful and candid attention. In 
drawing near the end of such a course of argu- 
ments, the subject of the Inspiration of the 
Bible reasonably claims attention. 

The inspiration of the Scriptures is a topic 
on which I have thought much, and have not 
always found it easy to satisfy my own mind 
what is the exact truth. There are however 
some things which seem to me sufficiently 
20 305 



306 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

plain ; and these plain things seem also to me 
enough for all the practical uses of the Chris- 
tian and the honest inquirer for Christian 
truth. To these points relating to this im- 
portant subject I ask your attention in this 
chapter, in the hope that you will judge of 
them truly and rightly. 

i. A special revelation from God needs 

AND IMPLIES A SPECIAL INSPIRATION BY GOD 

in the writers who give us the records of it. 

Of course I assume in this proposition that 
the revelation is written. A revelation that is 
not written has in it nothing permanent. It 
exists only in the fallible memory of the short- 
lived man or men to whom it is given. To 
continue, it must be written. And to be writ- 
ten correctly, as God gives it, so that others 
beside those who first receive it may know 
what it is, and especially so that those of later 
times may know what it is, the writers must be 
guided by God, so as to give the world just the 
words which he gave them for the world. 
Thus there must be a special inspiration by 
God, in order that the special revelation from 



INSPIRATION. 307 

God may be made widely known to the world, 
and preserved for the people of coming time. 

This would be undeniably the fact, if the 
revelation were made all at once. But as God 
has chosen the method of revealing his will to 
men, it does not come at once. It comes in 
successive parts, during a long period of time, 
through many individual minds. It comes in 
the history, teachings, and discipline of a pecu- 
liar people, chosen of God, through all their 
growth from small beginnings to maturity, 
through all their progress, decline, and cor- 
ruption, till they lost their nationality, though 
still existing as a distinct race, scattered among 
all nations. And then the completion of it 
comes in the history of the life, teachings, mir- 
acles, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascen- 
sion of Jesus Christ, and in the instructions 
concerning him by his early disciples. 

Now it is plain that Moses, in all he wrote 
as a revealer of God's truth, must have written 
under the inspiration of the omniscient One, 
in order that what he said might be in agree- 
ment with what was to come afterward. And 



308 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the same is true of Samuel and David and all 
the prophets. Each, in his own portion of the 
complete work of revelation, must have been 
guided and especially inspired, that he might 
fill up aright the part given him to do. So 
that the evidence of a revelation necessarily 
carries along with it the evidence of inspiration 
granted to those through whom the revelation 
is given to the world. The proof of revelation 
is proof of inspiration as well. 

This argument is, to my mind, so plain and 
conclusive, that, if there were no other, I think 
we ought to consider the question settled as to 
the principal portions of the Scriptures. But 
there are other conclusive evidences to the 
same purpose. 

2. Jesus himself always referred to 
the Old Testament Scriptures as of di- 
vine authority. He did this just as we, who 
now believe the inspiration of the Bible, refer 
to it as the word of God. In this respect 
preachers of the gospel and Christian writers 
follow his example more exactly than they do 
m anything else. And as we refer so confi- 



INSPIRATION. 309 

dently to the Bible because we believe its in- 
spiration, so we must believe that he referred 
to the Old Testament Scriptures, all that were 
then written, so confidently, because he be- 
lieved their inspiration. I can see no other 
reasonable conclusion from his conduct in this 
matter. Consequently, as we accept him for 
authority, we ought to receive the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures as he did, for an inspired and 
infallible guide in matters of religious truth 
and duty. This seems certain so far as re- 
gards the Old Testament. Concerning the 
New Testament there is less frequent doubt 
with regard to its inspired authority. And 
there is also a similar reason for believing its 
inspiration. 

3. It is THE PROMISE OF OUR SAVIOUR TO 

his disciples. I mean the promise he gave 
them that the Spirit of truth should lead and 
teach them, and bring to their remembrance 
the things concerning him. 

In the fourteenth chapter of John, at the 
twenty-sixth verse, he says, " But the Com- 
forter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the 



3IO CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Father will send in my name, he shall teach 
you all things, and bring all things to your re- 
membrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." 
Again, at the end of the next chapter : " But 
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send 
unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of 
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he 
shall testify of me : and ye also shall bear wit- 
ness, because ye have been with me from the 
beginning." Then in the sixteenth chapter: 
" Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, 
he will guide you into all truth : for he shall 
not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall 
hear, that shall he speak : and he will show 
you things to come. He shall glorify me; for 
he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto 
you. All things that the Father hath are 
mine ; therefore said I, that he shall take of 
mine, and shall show it unto you." 

These promises cover the whole ground of 
what the apostles and first disciples would 
need that they might teach fully and fitly the 
truth concerning Christ. They leave out noth- 
ing which was necessary for this purpose. Of 



INSPIRATION. 3 I I 

necessity, then, they include the gift of divine 
inspiration. Without this they could not so 
call up in remembrance all the things which he 
had said to them as he promised that they 
should. Without this they could not so be 
taught all things concerning him, and be 
guided into all truth, and bear witness of him 
before all men, as there would be need. Surely, 
then, these promises of the Spirit include the 
promise of inspiration. They had need to be 
divinely guided in the records they made of 
his life and teachings and wonderful works and 
sufferings and death and resurrection. They 
had need to be divinely instructed in their 
understanding and reasonings and teachings 
about his life and work and death. Only so 
could they worthily bear witness of him to all 
the world for all time. 

4. We come now to the explicit declaration, 
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; 
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
furnished unto all good works." 



312 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

If here all Scripture means what we naturally 
understand by the words, and if this declara- 
tion is then to be taken as it is most readily 
understood, the question is fully settled. In 
relation to the meaning of the words, "All 
Scripture," it may indeed be said that there 
are portions of the Scriptures which were not 
written till after this declaration was made. 
Yet only small portions were written after- 
ward. This second Epistle to Timothy, which 
contains the declaration, was certainly one of 
the later of Paul's writings, if not the latest. 
There is no other to which a later date seems 
applicable. It was written when he was a 
prisoner at Rome, after he had once been 
called to answer before the emperor, or some 
officer sitting in judgment for the emperor. 
In the same letter he said, " For I am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my de- 
parture is at hand. I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day : and 



INSPIRATION. 313 

not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
his appearing." This is the language of one 
who saw the end of his course near, and tri- 
umphed in the anticipation of it. And it is 
not likely that he was mistaken. 

It was in all probability before this that 
Peter wrote the direction, " And account that 
the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation ; 
even as our beloved brother Paul also, accord- 
ing to the wisdom given unto him, hath writ- 
ten unto you ; as also in all his epistles, speak- 
ing in them of these things ; in which are some 
things hard to be understood, which they that 
are unlearned and unstable wrest [turn aside 
from their true meaning], as they do also the 
other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.' , 

It is worthy of special notice that here the 
writings of Paul are put by Peter along with 
the other Scriptures as of the same authority. 
And so I conclude that all the writings of the 
New Testament, which were put together by 
the early Christians as alike worthy of confi- 
dence, alike speaking with the authority of 
God and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 



3 H CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

are to be received by us as the Jews and our 
Saviour received the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures. And I suppose that the text applies to 
them all alike, and is true in relation to them 
all. 

The writings of the apostle John were some 
of them, perhaps all, of a later date than the 
text. But they were received with the rest by 
the early Christians ; they are generally ad- 
mitted to have been written by the beloved 
disciple whose name they bear ; and they have, 
to the serious and thoughtful reader, special 
marks of proceeding from the Spirit of truth. 

I accept then the language of the declara- 
tion, as reasonable and true in relation to all 
those writings which, as they are gathered 
into one book, we call the Bible. 

This now is the sum of my argument for the 
Scriptures : The very nature of a revelation 
from God requires that the men by whom it 
comes should be inspired for its publication, 
preservation, and transmission ; our Saviour 
recognized inspiration in the Old Testament ; 
his promises insured it to his disciples, as 



INSPIRATION. 3 I 5 

teachers of his truth ; and the apostles Paul 
and Peter speak expressly as if all the Scrip- 
tures were distinguished from other writings 
of men by this divine quality. 

And this distinction is strongly confirmed 
by the great contrast there is between these 
writings and those called Apocryphas. There 
is an Apocrypha of the Old Testament, and one 
of the New. And the language, matter, and 
manner of them both are in general very dif- 
ferent from the genuine Scriptures. For the 
most part they are like the triflings of child- 
hood in comparison with the serious work of 
mature men. 

Some will naturally ask, What is the na- 
ture of inspiration ? How far does it in- 
sure infallible instruction to men ? 

To such questions I answer, that I can not 
say exactly how the writers of the Bible were 
inspired, and in what degree, for I do not 
know. I have not the knowledge to speak 
definitely and positively in relation to this 
matter. 

But certainly it seems to me that they were 



3l6 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

so far inspired as to make their writings a suf- 
ficient and sure guide in the way of truth and 
right, as to religion and morals. With the 
Bible in his hands, no man needs to err in any- 
thing pertaining to these most important mat- 
ters. It was not given to be especially our 
guide in other things. And if there may be 
found difficulties, inaccuracies, or even errors 
with regard to other things, — I do not say 
that such is the fact, but if it be, — the divine 
authority of the Scriptures is not impaired as 
to religion and morals. They are sufficient 
for the purpose for which they are given, to 
guide men into the knowledge of God and the 
way of salvation. They are not sufficient for 
all other things. And it would be folly to pre- 
tend that they are. 

The Scriptures are not an infallible guide to 
those who do not honestly seek to be guided. 
Men may err in understanding them. It is pos- 
sible, and not very difficult, to misunderstand 
and pervert their meaning. The heedless and 
the perverse may, whether learned or un- 
learned, wrest them, turn them away from the 



INSPIRATION. 317 

proper sense, to their own destruction. God 
has never promised that his word shall be a 
sufficient guide for those who do not come to 
it for guidance, or fairly and earnestly seek its 
instruction. Those who form their opinions 
beforehand, and then come to the Bible to find 
support for them, if their opinions are wrong, 
will be very likely to get arguments for them, 
and to be confirmed in their errors. The 
Bible is not in such a sense the touchstone of 
truth as necessarily to draw out of a man's 
mind all the errors he has in it. It is very 
common for men to find in this book the views 
and opinions which they seek to find. If they 
seek to find the truth, as God teaches it, hon- 
estly and earnestly asking him to guide them, 
ready to obey the truth when they find it, and 
striving to obey it as they find it, they will be 
instructed aright. For the Bible is a sufficient 
rule to those who rightly use it. But it is not 
sufficient for those who fail to use it rightly. 
Whether they fail by neglect, by disinclination 
or misinclination, by pride or prejudice, or by 
whatever is wrong in their state of mind, it 



3 18 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

will not be to them a sufficient guide. But he 
who searches for the truth truly, and with all 
his heart, will find the Bible indeed the word 
of truth and the word of life, the word of God. 

Does the inspiration of the Bible extend to 
the words used? Certainly, in some sense it 
must. The words of the Scriptures are the 
vehicle by which the sense is conveyed into 
the minds of the readers. There is no other 
vehicle but words, which can convey the pre- 
cious freight of God's truth and love into the 
human mind. As the Bible is the great repos- 
itory of this precious freight, and it is stored in 
the words of the book for constant use, to be 
taken into his mind by every one who will take 
it, we can not say that the words have noth- 
ing to do with the truth and love which they 
hold and communicate. 

But do you ask, Would other words do as 
well as those zvhich are used? That is a ques- 
tion which I can not answer. Another person 
may ask, If different words would have been 
as well, why were they not chosen ? And 
this question I can not answer. Happily it is 



INSPIRATION. 319 

not necessary to answer either of these ques- 
tions, nor others like them. 

The inspiration of the Bible did not hinder, 
but guided rather the writers in their choice 
of the words which they preferred. It did not 
hinder, but helped rather the free use of their 
diversities of gifts and attainments. Moses 
and David and Isaiah, Paul and Peter and 
John, wrote in very different styles. And if 
they presented the same truth, it was in very 
different modes of expression. But they all 
give doubtless just the revelation which God 
intended. 

It is a principle most important to be kept 
in mind, that the inspiration of the Scriptures 
does not relieve men from responsibility in 
seeking the truth and love of God brought to 
us in the Bible. It increases their responsi- 
bility in this respect. As the Bible is an in- 
spired book, so much the more ought men to 
search the Scriptures, and pray for the Spirit 
of truth, and be honest with themselves before 
God, that they may know the truth and be 



320 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

free from error and sin, that they may find the 
way of life and live in following it. 

In a most important sense the Bible is an 
infallible guide. It will never lead astray, but 
will always lead aright every one who makes a 
full and right use of it. The learned and the 
unlearned may be led by it surely in the way 
of life. 

But there is also a most important sense in 
which there is no infallible guide. Any one 
who does not seek, and any one who does not 
seek aright, has no promise that he will find 
the truth, or the way of life. There are men 
whose minds are so full of error that they will 
not see the truth when it is set before them. 
And there are men whose hearts are so full of 
sin that they will not obey the truth when they 
know it. For such there is no infallible guide. 
They will never know the truth and obey it 
unto salvation until they repent of their sin by 
confessing and forsaking it, and search the 
Scriptures with a true heart. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 

"Oppositions of science falsely so called." — I Tim. vi. 20. 

'HE most imposing objections to the truth 
of Christianity and its divine authority 
are made by men of science, or by those 
who claim to be men of science. Such 
objections are adapted to have very consider- 
able influence with some who are engaged in 
scientific pursuits, and with many who are not 
so engaged, because they have the appearance 
of scientific authority. For this reason they 
must receive some consideration. The Chris- 
tian need have no fear of them ; for they can 
be fairly answered, or reasonably set aside. 
But they must receive candid attention, as 
fully as they deserve, in order that they may 
be rightly put out of the way. 

21 321 



322 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

It must be acknowledged that the progress 
of science has, in some instances, required 
Christians to change their manner of under- 
standing the language of the Bible. The sci- 
ence of astronomy, when its principles came to 
be known, required that the Bible should be 
understood as men understand the language 
of common life, as giving expression to the ap- 
pearances that meet us everywhere, and not as 
the words of scientific accuracy, expressing ex- 
actly the laws and causes of those phenomena. 
At the time when astronomical science was 
coming into its full form and substance, many 
who stood Ivgh as Christians and theologians 
were greatly agitated with fear lest the truth 
and divine authority of the Bible should be 
overthrown by the new discoveries of science. 
There has probably never been greater anx- 
iety in relation to the oppositions of science 
to the truth of Christianity than there was 
about two hundred and fifty years ago, at the 
time Galileo argued and proved that the earth 
moves arou 1 id the sun, and does not stand still 
on its firm ^undations. It took many years 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 323 

for the Christian world to become settled in 
the perfect agreement between the Bible, un- 
derstood according to the common use of lan- 
guage, and the true science of astronomy. 
But now it seems to us very strange that any 
difficulty of this sort should have arisen, so 
perfectly needless it appears. 

The science of geology, more recent than 
astronomy, requires that we acknowledge the 
earth to have been created long before it be- 
came the habitation of man. This does not 
conflict with anything expressly said in the 
Bible account of the creation. It is not said 
that the earth was created six thousand years 
ago, and was immediately arranged substan- 
tially as it is now ; and that then man was 
created upon it. It is not said that the whole 
work of creation, from the beginning to the 
end, occupied six days of our common time, 
and no more. Yet such was, no doubt, the 
common understanding of the narrative in the 
beginning of the Bible, until geology led men 
to look at it more carefully, and to see that 
there may have been a very long period, none 



324 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

can tell how long, between the creation of 
the substance of the earth and the completion 
of the work by the creation of man upon it. 

But a little examination of the account, as it 
is given, shows that those six days of creation 
were not just like our common days. The 
statement is, that after the first three days' 
work, God set the two great lights in the 
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the 
earth, and to rule over the day and over the 
night, and to divide the light from the dark- 
ness ; and that then the evening and the morn- 
ing were the fourth day. Consequently the 
first four days of the creation could not have 
been made as our days are made, by the appar- 
ent revolution of the sun around the earth in 
every twenty-four hours. There must have 
been some other way in which those days were 
made. The very narrative by itself requires 
that we understand by the six days of creation 
other periods of time than our common days. 

And this being the fact, I do not think it a 
strange thing that many Christian geologists 
have adopted the opinion that those six days 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 325 

were long periods of time, in which the great 
changes and progressive works of creation re- 
lated in that short chapter were accomplished. 
In so very brief an account it was a matter of 
necessity that many things should be left with- 
out explanation. It could not be otherwise. 
There could be, in so short a space, no detailed 
statement of the manner in which so great 
events occurred, but only the barest outline. 

It is, however, a remarkable fact, that the 
order of the creation, so far as it is ascertained 
by the science of geology, agrees with the 
order given in the Bible. 

First the substance of the earth was in a 
chaotic condition, well expressed by the words 
without form and void. Then it was brought 
into some order by its elements being distin- 
guished so as to occupy their appropriate pla- 
ces. Next came the vegetable world ; .after- 
ward the animal world ; and lastly man was 
created, as if all the works before had been a 
preparation for him. Such is the order of 
geology ; and such is the order of the Bible. 
How came this to be so ? If God instructed 



326 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Moses, we can see how it came. But if not, 
how ? Can any one tell ? Will any man of 
science, who rejects the Bible as giving us a 
revelation from God, explain this remarkable 
agreement ? 

It may indeed be said that some facts have 
been lately reported, which indicate that the ex- 
istence of man goes farther back than has been 
generally believed, and farther than the Bible 
implies. Some such facts have been reported ; 
but they have also been disputed. They are 
not ascertained to be facts. And neither true 
science nor the Bible can be affected by them 
until the truth concerning them is known. 
Those who wished to disbelieve the Bible have 
more than once supposed some facts to be dis- 
covered quite inconsistent with it. But they 
have been found mistaken ; and the Book of 
books stands not less firmly established after a 
thorough examination of all such supposed dis- 
coveries. It can not be shaken by any reports 
which are not thoroughly verified. 

There are certain opinions or theories set 
before the world by some men of science. 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 32/ 

which are at variance with the Bible, and so 
opposed to its being received as a revelation 
from God. I can not help thinking that they 
are in truth oppositions of science falsely so 
called. One of them has been named the 
"Development theory!' It has been proposed 
by some men of science to explain the exist- 
ence of men and animals without regarding 
them as produced by God's direct agency in 
creation. The peculiarity of this theory is the 
supposition that there has been going on in 
the world, through unnumbered ages of past 
time, a process of development, or a progress- 
ive advancement from the lowest forms of life 
to the highest. I do not know that these pro- 
fessed philosophers pretend to say how life 
itself began. But in consistency with their 
theory it must have been developed, in some 
of its lowest forms, from no life ; some very low 
kind of vegetation from no seed, and some 
very low kind of animal life from no animal 
life. And certainly this plain statement of the 
theory looks very much like making something 



328 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

out of nothing, — an event which seems to be 
a creation, and to imply or require a creator. 

It is a truth of science that there is in the 
vegetable world a gradation of life from the 
lowest forms, the mosses, lichens, and the like, 
up to the largest trees and the most luxuriant, 
beautiful, and useful plants ; and also that in 
the animal world there is a gradation of life 
from the lowest forms, such as the snail-like 
creature that adheres to the rock and has 
never the power of locomotion, up to the most 
powerful, intelligent, beautiful, and useful ani- 
mals existing, such as the horse, the dog, the 
elephant, the lion ; or, among birds, the eagle, 
the parrot, and the mocking-bird. 

Now the development theory suggests that 
there may have been a progressive advance- 
ment toward the highest form of animal life ; 
and that so man may have come to be, by a 
very long and gradual process of development, 
what he is. I do not know that it is expressly 
said, but it seems to be implied, that man may 
have been developed from the gorilla, or the 
orang-outang, or the monkey. 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 329 

This theory is in opposition to the Bible ac- 
count, that man was created by God and in 
the likeness of God. But is it any more rea- 
sonable than the Bible account, or as reason- 
able ? It is a theory only, a supposition, a 
conjecture. It is not supported by the facts 
observed and classified in natural science. 
According to these facts there is no passing 
from one species of animals to another and 
higher species. And there never has been. 
Geology has discovered in the great repository 
of the rocks many specimens of diverse species 
of animals which have existed and passed away 
in former periods ; but not one specimen has 
ever been found of intermediate or transition 
animals growing from one species into another. 
The nearest example known of the develop- 
ment of one species from another, or from oth- 
ers, is the mule, which results from the union 
of the ass and the horse. But in this instance 
there is no propagation of a new species ; for 
the mule has no offspring. And this estab- 
lished fact goes farther against the theory than 
any facts known go for it. 



330 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

The truth is, there is a development of man 
from helpless infancy to the strength and com- 
pleteness of maturity, and also from the lowest 
barbarism to the highest civilization and cul- 
ture. This is a development which is going 
on so as to be the subject of observation in the 
world. But no development of man from any 
other animal has ever been known. The the- 
ory is simply an " opposition of science falsely 
so called." It can not be more truly named. 
It is nothing but a theory, a supposition, put 
forth by men claiming to be adepts in science. 
It eminently shows that sometimes much learn- 
ing does not save men from very foolish opin- 
ions, which have no support from the facts and 
principles of true science. 

One of the most distinguished among liv- 
ing men of science, and especially of natural 
science, is Agassiz. He is a native of Swit- 
zerland, of French descent, and now an Amer- 
ican citizen, and an eminent professor in the 
oldest and most richly endowed literary insti- 
tution of our land. He rejects utterly the de- 
velopment theory as groundless. But he sets 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 33 I 

forth another theory respecting the origin and 
unity of the human race, which is not consist- 
ent with the Bible account of man's creation. 
He believes, if I am rightly informed, that 
there have been several distinct creations of 
men ; that as there are different kinds of fishes, 
so there are different kinds of men. He thinks 
that the Esquimaux and the American Indian 
and the Negro and the Chinaman and the 
European and American white man are of 
different stocks in their creation, that they 
were created distinctly, and so are different ; 
while they are all human, all men, having 
the peculiarities of manhood separating them 
widely from all other animals. He thinks the 
differences among them are not to be explained 
by their different circumstances and modes of 
living. 

Now, I do not know that I can disprove this 
theory of one of the most eminent scientists of 
the present day. Neither do I know that he 
can prove it. There are, doubtless, some facts 
which favor his opinion, or he would not have 
adopted it. But it is a reasonable question 



332 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

whether the facts are such as to set aside the 
Bible account of the matter. It may be that 
he undervalues the power of circumstances 
and modes of living, and all the diversities of 
condition. Take several infants from the most 
cultivated families in Europe and America, 
and separate them, placing one in China, one 
in Africa, one among the American Indians, 
leaving others in their native condition, all to 
grow up in their diverse circumstances and 
modes of living ; and there will result such dif- 
ferences, in twenty-five years, between those 
having the same parentage, as will astonish 
an observer. There will be also a surprising 
likeness of each individual to the people among 
whom his life has been developed. Read the 
story of Kaspar Hauser, and see how wonder- 
ful and powerful was the effect of entire seclu- 
sion, and restriction to one mode of exercise, 
from infancy to the approach of manhood. 

In view of such facts as the history of 
humanity gives us, it seems to me quite reason- 
able to suppose that Prof. Agassiz under-esti- 
mates the influence on mankind of the great 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 333 

diversities in the circumstances, modes of life, 
and forms of development, among men ever 
since the confusion of Babel. And looking at 
the matter simply as a question of science, it 
is quite as probable that all mankind are de- 
rived from one stock, the different families be- 
ing very diversely developed, as that God has 
created several distinct families of the one hu- 
man race. If one creation could have pro- 
duced the whole, science asks, why should we 
suppose there was more than one ? 

While the development theory makes too 
much of the influence resulting from external 
circumstances and modes of life, or physical 
causes, Prof. Agassiz makes too little of it. 
True philosophy, coming between the two, in- 
structs us to take the Bible account concerning 
the origin of man as correct. Certainly the 
abundant evidences for the Bible, as giving us 
a revelation from God, are not to be set aside 
by such theories. 

And in fact they do not touch directly any 
of the essential evidences for the truth of the 
Christian religion. They stand in opposition 



334 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

to the Bible statements concerning the crea- 
tion of man ; and thus indirectly they are op- 
posed to the teachings of the Bible in relation 
to man's character and the way of salvation. 

But when Christianity comes to us as a cure 
for the fear of death, and for the condemnation 
and the power of sin, proved by actual experi- 
ment as really as any experimental science is 
proved by the trials to which it is subjected, it 
ought to be received. And no theories de- 
pending on facts but partially observed, and 
but partially within the reach of observation, 
where more is supposed than known, have 
really any force against it. Their force, if they 
have any, is not against Christianity itself, but 
against the perfect correctness in all things of 
the book in which Christianity is revealed to 
us. It is directly against the infallible au- 
thority of the Bible. In that way it is against 
Christianity. 

But possibly the truth of Christianity can be 
maintained, if the infallible authority of the 
Bible, in matters not essentially a part of the 
Christian religion, is not preserved. And 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 335 

whether it can be or not, theories of learned 
and able men so unsupported, or but partially- 
supported by facts, are not of sufficient force 
to call into reasonable question the plain state- 
ments of the Bible. It is better supported by- 
evidence than those theories are, and better 
than it is likely they ever will be. 

I shall not pursue the consideration of the 
subject farther. No other scientific questions 
or difficulties with regard to the truth of Chris- 
tianity have any greater weight than those 
which we have noticed. 

Two or three things worthy of our attention 
are suggested by what has been said. 

I. The scientific theories opposed to Chris- 
tianity are not of good moral tendency. So far 
as their influence goes they tend to weaken 
the strength of moral principle and to dimin- 
ish the moral restraints among men. 

The development theory puts God far away 
from the world. Its natural effect is to make 
the impression that the world exists and its 
affairs go on by certain inherent forces, with- 
out any present agency and direction of God. 



336 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

And just so far it removes from men the sense 
of God's presence to restrain them from evil 
and uphold them in good. Indeed, the strong 
bearing of the theory is toward materialism 
and atheism, and the result must be that there 
is no teacher of moral right but experience, 
no moral law but expediency. It has no en- 
forcement from divine authority, no support 
from divine love. A high tone of morals can 
not be expected from such a- theory. 

And the theory of the origin of man from 
different creations is manifestly against a be- 
lief in the universal brotherhood and equal 
rights of men. It is made use of to uphold 
slavery, with all the oppressions, wrongs, and 
vices attending that gigantic system of wicked- 
ness. Assuming that the negro is of an infe- 
rior nature by creation, it is asked, Why should 
he not be reduced to slavery and kept there ? 
It has been said a thousand times, That is his 
place, and he is fit for no other. This is good 
slaveholding doctrine, but not according to the 
teaching of the Bible : " God has made of one 
blood all nations of men to dwell on all the 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 337 

face of the earth ; " and, " Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself." 

If such theories prevail among men, there 
will be no high moral sentiment or moral 
action. 

2. Men of science, and others too, some- 
times hold theories or opinions supported by 
little or no evidence ; while they disregard the 
various and strong proofs for the truth of 
Christianity. Some people are very credu- 
lous in taking up opinions opposed to the 
Christian religion, and very skeptical with re- 
gard to facts and reasonings in its favor. The 
fact seems to be that many dislike to believe 
the truth and immense importance of the 
Christian religion ; though they acknowledge 
that there are good things in it and good influ- 
ences flowing from it. This dislike blinds 
them to the evidence for it, and makes them 
foolish in disregarding it, when they are wise 
in other things, and when the proof is abun- 
dantly sufficient to convince them and lead 
them to receive the truth, if they were only 
reasonable. 

22 



33§ CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

And this fact has a very serious aspect for 
those who, being more intelligent and intel- 
lectual than most of their fellow-men, stand 
aloof from the common religious belief, in 
doubt, and not giving its evidence the candid 
and earnest attention it deserves. The plain 
fact is that the Christian religion is everything 
to the individual soul and to the world, if it is 
anything. It is true or false. If true, it is 
good and necessary for every man, in such a 
sense that life is lost without it ; and if false, 
it is good for no man. And for any one to say 
practically, " It is good for other people, and 
very necessary in the world, but I can do very 
well without it," is unreasonable, and in the 
highest degree absurd. Intelligent persons 
are not doing rightly toward their fellow-men, 
nor wisely for themselves, until they receive 
the evidences for the Christian religion, nor 
indeed until they receive the gospel of Jesus 
Christ into their hearts to govern their lives. 

3. A third suggestion, the last I will make, 
is, that Christians have no reason to be disturbed 
by the various difficulties and objections raised 
against their faith. Having become estab- 



OPPOSITIONS OF SCIENCE. 339 

lished reasonably and firmly in believing the 
truth of the Christian religion from its good- 
ness, its fitness to their wants, and its many 
proofs, they should not be troubled by ques- 
tions which objectors may bring against their 
faith. Such questions will arise ; and you 
may not be able to answer all of them. But if 
anything may be regarded by a Christian as 
settled, it is that the Christian religion is true 
and is from God. The Master himself teaches 
that we may not be able to answer all the 
questions which arise ; but, knowing and lov- 
ing the truth, knowing and loving him, we may 
trust him, and by our trust in him we may be 
relieved of all anxiety, all fear. 

High attainments in human learning, great 
human sagacity, and superior excellence in 
human wisdom, should never be disparaged. 
But all of them, in the highest degree ever 
attained among men, can bring no such peace 
and blessedness to the human soul, and can 
send abroad in the world no such powerful in- 
fluence to comfort and bless and save lost men, 
as faith in Jesus Christ and love to Jesus 
Christ, our Saviour and our Lord. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

RECAPITULATION. 

" Now of the things which we have spoken this is the 
sum." — Heb. viii. I. 

f PROPOSE now a review of the preced- 
) ing chapters, to bring into notice the sev- 
Tb eral topics which have been considered, 
and to get a little more fully, if we may, 
the true impression of the whole. I do not 
propose to make in one chapter an abstract, 
or condensed statement, of what is contained 
in more than a dozen. But I can mention the 
different subjects, and state some of the most 
important points of the arguments, so as to 
give a glimpse of the whole in a short space. 

The first chapter was on the monumental 
proofs of Christianity. As there are monu- 
ments which stand in proof of the facts in our 
340 



RECAPITULATION. 34 1 

national history, such as the granite column on 
Bunker Hill, the annual observance of the 
Fourth of July, the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, the Constitution of the United States, 
and our existence as a nation, so there are 
monuments to prove the facts of the Christian 
religion. The Christian era as the point from 
which we reckon the successive years, the 
ordinances of the Christian church, Baptism 
and the Lord's Supper, the Sabbath, the exist- 
ence of the Christian religion in the world, and 
the Bible as a common book of religious au- 
thority, are such monuments. 

The second chapter was on the Bible. In 
its peculiar form, character, and influence, it 
is such as man could not and would not have 
made. Therefore it must have come from God. 

The third chapter was on the influence of 
the Bible and its religion in quickening the 
intellect, reforming the morals, and blessing 
the social life of men on earth. This is an 
argument which ought to have great power 
with every one who claims to be fair-minded 
and ready to receive the truth. Either the 



342 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Christian religion is from God, or a system of 
false religion has been the greatest blessing to 
the world which it has ever received. 

Then came the consideration of man's need 
of a revelation to tell him of God, to guide him 
in the way of righteousness, and to give him 
sure hope for the life to come. 

This was followed by a glance at the pecu- 
liar and wonderful history of Jesus Christ, the 
strangest fiction or the most important fact 
ever published to the world. 

Christ as a teacher was the next subject. 
He taught so that men wondered at the gra- 
cious words which proceeded out of his mouth. 
The singular purity, kindliness, force, and in- 
fluence of his words have made him commonly 
regarded as the Great Teacher, surpassing 
the wisest of the philosophers. 

Miracles are so numerous and prominent in 
the Bible, that they must receive attention 
when we are looking into its claims to be from 
God. Those wrought by Christ correspond 
with his wonderful history and character, and 
also with the salutary and unique power of the 



RECAPITULATION. 343 

truths of Christianity, when they are received 
as from God. It is impossible reasonably to 
set aside or explain away the testimony for 
miracles. To say that they can not be, or can 
not be proved, is equal to saying that there is 
no God, or that he can not reveal himself to. 
men by the direct action of his power. 

After the miracles, we considered the au- 
thority claimed and exercised by Christ. It 
was such as no other man ever asserted for 
himself, and no one could use who did not act 
with the power of God. Then the sufferings 
and death of Christ were the subject of our 
attention ; and next, his resurrection from the 
dead. 

The consideration of these various topics 
presents Christ to us as a being quite out of 
the sphere of common humanity. We can not 
in any way reasonably believe him to have 
been a man and only a man. He must have 
been more than human. It must be that God 
was with him. Never man spake like this 
man. No good man besides ever claimed and 
exercised authority as he did. Yet he sur- 



344 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

passed other men in goodness as much as in 
his high claims. Was he not a divine messen- 
ger, yea, a divine being ? Could he be any- 
less ? 

We may wisely regard him as revealing to 
men the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
God. In this view of him he shows us what 
we should think of God ; he gives us some 
definite knowledge about the life to come ; not 
a great amount indeed, but of great impor- 
tance, and enough for our practical needs ; and 
he shows us how to obtain the pardon of sin 
from the God of truth and justice. On these 
topics, which have baffled all philosophical in- 
quiry, he speaks with the freedom of perfect 
knowledge and perfect authority. 

Was he then a fanatical enthusiast, himself 
deluded, and deluding the world ? Or was he 
a false pretender to knowledge and power 
which no man ever had ? Or was he the Son 
of God, bringing to light an immortal life, and 
revealing to the darkened minds of men the 
truth and love, the power and grace of God ? 
Surely he did bring to men the light of life. 



RECAPITULATION. 345 

He did show to the world the glory of God, as 
it never before had been manifested. 

The subject of the twelfth chapter was the 
moral law. In it the tract entitled "Where 
did he get that Law ? " was given. It sets 
forth, in a short, convincing argument, the per- 
fection of the law proclaimed by Moses, such 
that no man or body of men could have in- 
vented it. It must be that from God came 
such a law, so far surpassing all the moral 
ideas then prevalent among the most enlight- 
ened people, and itself never surpassed in later 
times, never likely to be surpassed, or possible 
to be surpassed, because it is perfect. And 
the Jewish religion and the Christian religion, 
which alike have it for their law, must have 
come from God. 

The evidence of prophecy was the next 
topic. Only a few of the plainest examples 
were noticed, in which the prophetic declara- 
tions of the Old Testament are so fulfilled 
that there is no room for a reasonable question 
of their prophetic character. 

The substantial connection and unity of the 



34^ CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

Old and New Testaments was another subject. 
They agree in their essential moral principles 
and religious teachings, and in the conditions 
of salvation for sinful men. And there fol- 
lowed naturally the truth that Christ sustains 
the moral law in his teachings, his life, his 
death, and in the provision for men to be saved 
through him. For " Christ is the end of the 
law for righteousness to every one that be- 
lieveth." 

I have now mentioned all the subjects con- 
sidered in the way of direct argument for the 
truth of Christianity in these successive chap- 
ters. There was, besides, one on the subject 
of inspiration ; and also one in which some of 
the most common objections were noticed. 

I propose now, at the risk of some repetition, 
to mention what seem to me the strongest 
points of argument for the Christian religion 
brought out in these discussions. All minds 
are not affected alike ; and others may not 
think as I do in relation to the several subjects 
and their bearing on the great question, 
whether God has spoken to men. 



RECAPITULATION. 34/ 

To my own mind the topics which have 
been presented from time to time have all 
been exceedingly interesting. But one is be- 
fore all the others both in interest and impor- 
tance. 

i. The story of Jesus Christ is the most 
strangely wonderful that has ever been told in 
this world. It surpasses all the fictions which 
the imagination of man has invented. Such 
goodness, such purity, such power, such truth, 
such knowledge, such discernment of men's 
hearts, such reproof of their sins, such com- 
passion for their sorrows, such tenderness 
toward the penitent, such severity toward the 
wicked impenitent, such lofty claims, stopping 
nowhere beneath the throne of God, — for he 
claimed to be the Judge of the world, — such 
perfect independence of the common desires, 
pleasures, fears, and powers of men, and such 
self-sacrificing beneficence toward men, with 
such wisdom and simplicity and force and life 
in his words, mingled sometimes with strange 
authority and mystery, and then such miracu- 
lous works, such opposition to him of men in 



348 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

power, and such cruel injustice and sufferings, 
and such a death, foretold and voluntary on 
his part, not for himself but for others, yet en- 
dured in agony and apparent despair, followed 
too by such a resurrection and manifestation 
to his friends, and by such an inspiration of 
those friends with new courage and hope and 
energy and power, with new thoughts, desires, 
labors, and influence among men, — all these 
things constitute a personal history and char- 
acter unlike any other, above any other, stand- 
ing altogether apart from any that has ever 
been known, from any that has ever been con- 
ceived among men. With the abundant proof 
that he was truly a man, I do not wonder that 
he is also called God. Regarding him as really 
man and really God, he brings together hu- 
manity and divinity. He joins our human 
nature with its dependence and wants, not- 
withstanding even its sinfulness and need of 
pardon and purifying, to the divine nature. 
He shows God's compassion toward men, and 
the true way of blessedness for men, in cleav- 



RECAPITULATION. 349 

ing to God with love and trust, with penitence 
and faithful service. 

This wonderful character, the Christ of his- 
tory, the Christ of truth and love, of peace and 
hope, who blesses the world with the clearest 
moral light that has shone upon it, who shows 
the principles of righteousness wherever he is 
known, and draws men with the cords of love 
wherever they believe in him, who gives rest 
to the troubled spirit and cheerful hope to the 
despairing sinner, — this Christ, the Son of God, 
the Saviour of the world, is the strongest argu- 
ment for the truth and the divine authority of 
the Christian religion. Every one in a Chris- 
tian land who rejects this argument shuts his 
eyes against the light which shines around 
him. Morally, Jesus Christ is the light of the 
world ; and to turn away from him is to walk 
in darkness. 

2. The miracles are a consenting and con- 
firming part of the argument which we have in 
Christ for the truth of Christianity. To deny 
that they can be, or that they can be proved to 
men, according to the present fashion of scien- 



3SO CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

tific skepticism, is equal to a denial that God 
exists, or, if he exists, that he can make himself 
known to men by a direct manifestation of his 
power and presence. Admitting that God ex- 
ists and may be expected to make himself 
known to men, the miracles of the Bible are 
no more to be rejected than other extraordinary 
facts ; and the testimony for them is no more 
to be regarded as incredible than the testimony 
for other wonderful events. 

The miracles do not stand alone. They are 
associated with the teachings and the life of 
Christ. In the Old Testament they are in 
connection with the law which came by Moses 
and with the national institutions established 
by the same great lawgiver. And so they 
may be regarded as compacting and sealing 
the testimony which God gave to his law and 
to his Son Jesus Christ. 

3. The law itself is of such a character for 
excellence and authority that man could not 
have invented it. The miracles by which God 
empowered Moses to prove his commission 
may have more impressed the Jewish people. 



RECAPITULATION. 35 I 

Their convincing power to those who saw 
them could not be resisted. But to us, who 
only have the story of them, the ten command- 
ments, the most perfect moral law known, — so 
perfect indeed that no man can find a fault in 
it, the standard of morals for the world, never 
to be outgrown nor set aside, — this law of 
God's perfect righteousness and truth and love 
comes with God's authority on its face and in 
its substance. It could not have been of man ; 
it must have been of God. 

4. The influence of the Christian re- 
ligion is another obvious, palpable, and con- 
vincing argument for its truth. Its influence 
appears at once in its principles and precepts. 
Every one sees immediately that in receiving 
it he must become a good man. Or if any one 
is so self-blinded that he expects to be a Chris- 
tian though he does not yield himself to the 
good influences of Christianity, he sees that 
every one else who becomes a follower of 
Christ must become an example of goodness. 

And this evidence increases with every ob- 
servation of the working of Christianity in 



352 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

the world. We see individuals really and per- 
manently changed for the better by becoming 
Christians. This is a fact of frequent occur- 
rence. It is seen in every small community 
where Christian influences are well sustained. 
It is multiplied as the gospel reaches in its 
power the people of larger communities. The 
reforming power of God's truth grows with the 
progress of time. It goes on from age to age 
doing good in this wicked world. The Chris- 
tian religion is a good influence of itself; and 
it is the seed of all the good influences which 
are elevating, reforming, and purifying men. 

It quickens the mind, so that not unfre- 
quently persons who become devoted Chris- 
tians seem to grow in their intellectual power. 
It stimulates education, so that a Christian 
people are sure to be a well educated commu- 
nity. It is in Christian lands that nearly all 
the improvements in science and the arts are 
made. It is only in Christian lands that plans 
are devised and carried into effect for the edu- 
cation of the whole people. It is only in 
Christian lands that the perfect law of right- 



RECAPITULATION. 353 

eousness is held up as the practical rule of 
living. There indeed it is but partially and 
poorly done ; yet a powerful influence is ex- 
erted to restrain men from wickedness and 
animate them to righteousness. Consequently, 
the standard of morals and the habits of life 
are most manifestly higher among men in pro- 
portion as the knowledge and belief of Chris- 
tianity prevail. This those who are accus- 
tomed to its ordinary influence do not always 
see. But when a people are transformed, 
through the introduction of Christianity, from 
the lowest condition of heathenism to a civil- 
ized and Christian state, within a human life- 
time, its salutary power, its divine goodness 
and divine energy, are made so plain that 
none but such as will not see can deny the 
proof. 

Several of the modern missions bear this 
testimony to the divine origin and excellence 
of our religion. Such is the testimony of the 
Sandwich Island Mission, given so distinctly 
as to leave no room for a reasonable doubt. It 
has been extensively published. And though 
23 



354 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

it has been denied, the denial is so surely false 
and malicious that none have reason to be de- 
ceived. Other missionary successes would 
give the like testimony if they were as fully 
reported. In truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ 
has been proved, by actual experiment, to be 
the wisdom of God and the power of God unto 
salvation to them that believe. 

The apostle Peter, in writing to Christians, 
said, " For we have not followed cunningly de- 
vised fables, when we made known to you the 
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
So may all Christian ministers say to those 
who have heard the gospel declared by them. 
When we preach Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
the Saviour of the world, we declare the simple 
truth, which only unreasonable and wicked 
men will deny. We declare it boldly. So it 
ought to be proclaimed. God has set his seal 
upon it. To be timid and hesitating in our 
proclamation of it, as if there were some un- 
certainty about it, is to be unfaithful to him, 
and fail in the service to which he has called 
us. 



RECAPITULATION. 355 

But will men receive our message ? They 
may not. Many do not. Some do. And 
they who do not must answer to God, and not 
to us. He is the Judge. He has endowed 
men with reason, that they may know the 
truth. If they do not know it when it is de- 
clared to them, they are unreasonable. They 
turn away from the light, or they shut their 
eyes against the light. Blinded by their per- 
verse prejudices, their evil passions, and their 
deceitful lusts, they choose darkness rather 
than light. 

Many, alas ! do thus wander out of the ways 
of truth, and stumble in the paths of error, and 
fall into the snares of Satan, and perish in 
their own sins. For them there is no promise, 
no hope. It is only in coming to the light, in 
seeking for the word of God, and in obeying 
the truth through the Spirit, that we can have 
the hope of salvation. 

Those words of plain truth and solemn warn- 
ing which the apostle Paul wrote to the Cor- 
inthians (2 Cor. iv. 1-4) may now be adopted 
by all true ministers of the gospel : " There- 



356 CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD. 

fore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have 
received mercy, we faint not ; but have re- 
nounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not 
walking in craftiness, nor handling the word 
of God deceitfully ; but, by manifestation of 
the truth, commending ourselves to every 
man's conscience in the sight of God. 

" But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them 
that are lost ; in whom the god of this world 
hath blinded the minds of them that believe 
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of 
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine 
unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but 
Christ Jesus the Lord ; and ourselves your 
servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who com- 
manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath 
shined in our hearts, to give the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ. 

" But we have this treasure in earthen ves- 
sels, that the excellency of the power may be 
of God, and not of us." 

THE END. 



